Monday, my Mom (Olive) and I birded the River "S" Unit at Ridgefield NWR from about 7am until 4:30pm. Carol Ledford joined us about 9am. Ken Meyer also birded along with us. (~4mi W of I-5 at Exit 14 in SW Washington; http://www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/ ).

Highlights:

AMERICAN BITTERN:
>From the W side of S, we saw 1, but when we got to the NE corner, Ken spotted 2 more. In all we saw 4 there. One was a male displaying its "angel wings" to a female when another Bittern needed to be run off. I have seen quite a few AMERICAN BITTERNS display their brilliant white "angel wings," but this male must have a lot of extra oomph because his "angel wings" were larger, fluffed more, and held out in display longer than any other Bittern I have ever seen in person or photograph. Spring is Wonderful!

VIRGINIA RAIL:
On the Kiwa Trail, at the "hairpin turn" which Ken Meyer has now dubbed "Rail Corner" (last 5 times there he has seen VIRGINIA RAIL), we watched 2 parents with 6 baby black fluff ball chicks. They were Highly active and at one point, all 8 VIRGINIA RAILS were on the trail in the open at the same time. Spectacular Views! Also at the bridge closest to the Kiwa Trail entrance, there was an intermediate (half) size juvenile, at least 2 adults, and 3 little black fluff balls.

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 67 species seen / heard:

Pied-billed Grebe
AMERICAN BITTERN (about 6 seen - 1 with huge "angel wings")
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Canada Goose (a few families + 2 flocks of ~30)
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
BLUE-WINGED TEAL (4 drakes, 3 hens ? in three sites)
Cinnamon Teal (seemingly everywhere)
Northern Shoveler
GREEN-WINGED TEAL (only 1 seen - Canvasback Lake)
REDHEAD (2 sites = 3 pair seen)
Ring-necked Duck
BUFFLEHEAD (one hen seen on Rest Lake)
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
VIRGINIA RAIL (lots heard, 11 seen)
Sora (several heard)
American Coot
Killdeer
Wilson's Snipe (still calling and winnowing all over the Refuge)
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl (adult + juv seen in Oregon Ash woodland after Kiwa parking lot)
Vaux's Swift
Belted Kingfisher
RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER (at/in nest S of bridge over Lake River )
Northern Flicker
PILEATED WOODPECKER (seen on Kiwa Trail)
WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE (heard in several places)
WILLOW FLYCATCHER (heard and seen)
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
PURPLE MARTIN (male and female seen, E side of Rest Lake)
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren (several seen, one entering nest)
HOUSE WREN (lots seen singing)
Marsh Wren
SWAINSON'S THRUSH (seen and heard, entrance canyon and Kiwa Trail)
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing (here, there, everywhere)
YELLOW WARBLER (2 seen well, at least 10 heard)
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler (heard a few, saw a few)
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK (singing all over the place)
Red-winged Blackbird
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD (11 males on S Quigley Lake + 2 at The Blind)
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
BULLOCK'S ORIOLE (several near R/R tracks)
House Finch
American Goldfinch (lots and plenty)