Subject: [Tweeters] Ridgefield NWR: COMMON GOLDENEYE, etc
Date: Jan 5 16:45:38 2009
From: Will Clemons - willclemons at yahoo.com


In addition to participating in the weekly Goose Survey at Ridgefield NWR, Scott Carpenter 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:

COMMON GOLDENEYE: Scott Carpenter found, and pointed out, two COMMON GOLDENEYE on South Quigley Lake. They were in the open when we first saw them, but were soon headed into the shelter of the Cattails. Keep an eye out as they could show up anywhere there.

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK: This juvenile female, was first seen atop Teasel along the east side road, several hundred yards S of the Entrance Booth. I watched her perched a few times on Teasel, once on a sign post, once atop a nest box, and also on the long bramble line W & S of the Entrance Booth. I also watched her fly and miss a couple of rodents, after which she tried to run after rodents in the snow/grass. In six or eight attempts, I never saw her succeed.

Will Clemons
SW of Portland
willclemons AT Yahoo dot com

Birding:
The best excuse for getting outdoors
And avoiding chores

Complete list of 43 species seen / heard:

Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
AMERICAN BITTERN
Great Blue Heron
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
COMMON GOLDENEYE
Hooded Merganser (various locations, about 30 seen in all)
COMMON MERGANSER (a dozen or more on Rest Lake)
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (east side toward the end of the loop)
Red-tailed Hawk
DARK MORPH RED-TAILED HAWK
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK
American Kestrel
American Coot
SANDHILL CRANE
Ring-billed Gull
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Bushtit
Winter Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird