My Wonder Mom (Olive) and I birded the River "S" Unit at Ridgefield NWR (~4mi W of I-5 at Exit 14 in SW Washington; http://www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/ ).

Highlights:

1) Best bird of the day was Olive, my mother:
Olive has not done well this season at walking the 1.5 mile Kiwa Trail. That is until today. Dear 92.5 yr old Olive walked it ALL today. I was pleasantly surprised, as she has made four starts this season, but not done more than a half mile round trip. Also, as a treat, a VIRGINIA RAIL was in the open on Kiwa and we both had good binocular views of it.

2) WINTER WREN: I have not seen or heard any WINTER WRENS in weeks and weeks until today. This morning, I heard and saw 2 WINTER WRENS in the entrance canyon (at the half way turn out).

3) YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS: These beautiful birds have, for the most part, stopped defending territory in favor of hustling food for calling babies. Patience is now required, but they are still easy to see. We saw males and females on S Quigley Lake where they nest, and also shopping for baby food on Long Lake.

4) BULLOCK'S ORIOLE: A tad of patience near the R/R crossing will allow you to hear and see these beauties. They can also be seen and heard from the bridge over Lake River. Walk out onto the bridge a ways, then turn and face the R/R and look and listen.

5) RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER: These RED-BREASTED Wonders are still tending nests and are active and can usually be seen in the same vicinity as the Orioles mentioned above.

Bill Clemons
SW of Portland in Mtn Park
willclemons AT Yahoo dot com

Birding:
The best excuse for getting outdoors
And avoiding chores

Complete list of 57 species seen / heard:

Pied-billed Grebe (2 babies at S end of Rest Lake)
American Bittern (a few heard, 3 seen)
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose (about 35 on Rest Lake, 5-6 families)
Wood Duck (including babies)
Gadwall (including babies)
Mallard (including babies)
BLUE-WINGED TEAL
Cinnamon Teal (a lot of drakes beginning to eclipse)
Redhead (lots, way out on Long Lake)
Ring-necked Duck (only a few)
Ruddy Duck
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier (male seen soaring)
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
VIRGINIA RAIL (several heard, 1 seen on Kiwa)
Sora (several heard)
American Coot (only 2 sets of babies seen)
Wilson's Snipe (still plentiful)
Mourning Dove
GREAT HORNED OWL (juv seen in Ash woodland)
Belted Kingfisher (1 seen on Long Lake snag)
RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee (lots heard, a few seen)
Willow Flycatcher (heard several)
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Bewick's Wren
House Wren
WINTER WREN (2 seen and heard ? entrance canyon)
Marsh Wren
Swainson's Thrush (lots still singing)
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow Warbler (heard several after Hunters Gate)
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler (2 heard ? entrance canyon)
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD
Brown-headed Cowbird
BULLOCK'S ORIOLE
American Goldfinch