Subject: [Tweeters] 5/9 weekend trip report: Nisqually, Ridgefield,
Date: May 13 21:56:07 2008
From: Christy Jobe - christyrj at hotmail.com


Hi Tweets,

Larry and I spent the weekend traveling down to Portland, for birding and for me to take a professional national certification test. We stopped at Nisqually NWR and Ridgefield NWR on our way down on Friday, then did a long afternoon and evening on Sauvie Island on Saturday, and then a long slow pleasurable day at Ridgefield again on Sunday. We saw several first-time birds for one or both of us! I was a bit lazy and didn't record everything that we saw (certain birds are becoming pretty common for us, even though cool) and we didn't attempt to do any counts. Note that we did see many male/female pairs all weekend, which was a treat!

Nisqually NWR on 5/9/08
- RED-NECKED PHALAROPES
- NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS
- CLIFF SWALLOWS
- TREE SWALLOWS
- BARN SWALLOWS
- YELLOW WARBLERS
- YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS
- COMMON YELLOWTHROATS
- AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES
- GREEN-WINGED TEAL
- CINNAMON TEALS
- NORTHERN SHOVELERS
- RED-WINDED BLACKBIRDS
- SONG SPARROWS
- FOX SPARROWS
- NORTHERN PINTAIL
- WOOD DUCKS

Ridgefield NWR River "S" Unit Auto Tour on 5/9/08
- GREAT EGRETS
- BITTERNS (two, in flight!)
- YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS (my first time to see these!)
- WOOD DUCKS
- GADWALL (pair)
- WESTERN SCRUB JAYS
- YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS
- COMMON YELLOWTHROATS
- WILSON'S WARBLERS
- SORA (one quick sighting at the observation blind)
- COOTS
- CINNAMON TEALS (these were ubiquitous all weekend)
- GREAT HORNED OWLS (two in one tree! - adult and immature)
(wow, seems like a short list but it was an exciting and pleasant day, with great weather!)

Sauvie Island near Portland Oregon on 5/10/08
- SCRUB JAYS
- BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK (our first of the season, though Larry reported to me to night that he had them at his feeders today, too!)
- NORTHERN FLICKERS
- OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHERS
- WESTERN TANAGERS (several, including mating pairs)
- COMMON YELLOWTHROATS
- CALIFORNIA QUAIL
- WOOD DUCKS (in flight down a river - lovely!)
- AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES
- YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS (these were ubiquitous and numerous all weekend)
- BULLOCK'S ORIOLE (male and female pair! These were a first for me!)
- BROWN CREEPER - GREY ADULT
- ROUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD (male)
- RED-TAILED HAWK
- WILSON'S WARBLERS
- OSPREY (nesting and in flight)
- BALD EAGLE (several pair, and both mature and immature, and several beautiful, indescribable opportunities to watch them soar and "play" in flight, even up fairly close)
- MORNING DOVES (dozens of them on the sides of the road as we drove south to get off the island in the evening)
- AMERICAN KESTREL (in hovering position)
- WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH (first for me)
- COMMON MERGANSER (pair)
- NORTHERN HARRIER
- CINNAMON TEALS

Ridgefield NWR River "S" Unit Auto Tour on 5/11/08
- REDHEADED DUCK (another first)
- CINNAMON TEALS
- BLACK-HEADED GROSSBEAK (pair)
- YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS
- YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS
- SURF SCOTER
- GADWALL
- RUDY DUCK
- RING-NECKED DUCK
- PILEATED WOODPECKER (on the Kiwa Trail, one-half of pair spotted, the other half heard nearby)
** - GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE ** (sighted from NW quarter of Kiwa Trail; confirmed, as opposed to Graylag Goose, by "double" tail and white tail tip, plus lighter-colored bill plus larger white front on bill; three of them foraging out in the marsh, looking out from Kiwa Trail over N.East Lake)
- GREAT HORNED OWL (only sighted the immature today, in the same tree that we saw it and the adult on Friday)
- DOWNY WOODPECKER
- WILSON'S WARBLERS (male and female)
- WOOD DUCKS
- GREAT EGRETS
- AMERICAN BITTERN (up close, for quite a long time! pictures available on Flickr - send me an email if you'd like to see them!)
- COMMON YELLOWTHROATS
- VIOLET GREEN SWALLOWS (notable because we noticed juveniles with a charcoal/grayish color and with the white 'seeming' to wrap all the way around the tail)
- TREE SWALLOWS
- BARN SWALLOWS
- MARSH WRENS
- RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS
- ROUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD

If you've never birded on Sauvie Island near Portland, I highly highly recommend it! It's absolutely spectacular, with much varied habitat. We've been three times and mostly just drive the roads, pulling over occasionally to look or listen (with one eye on the rearview mirror because the locals drive the roads at high speed (though also seem used to encountering birders)). May 1 through sometime in October, parts of the WLR there are open to non-hunters where normally those areas are otherwise closed to walking. We didn't get to do as much walking about as I had hoped. However, just on a drive tour there is so much of the island to see and so much amazing birding to do that it's easy to spend at least two full days there. If you'd like to see a few pictures from our trip, email me and I'll send you a Flickr guest pass.

Cheers and excellent birding!

~Christy Jobe
Kenmore, WA
christyrj_ at _hotmail_com