In addition to our regular Monday Goose Survey, I birded the River "S" Unit at Ridgefield NWR today. I was there from about 7:30A.M. until about 2:45P.M. (~4mi W of I-5 at Exit 14 in SW Washington; http://www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/ ).

Highlights:

GOLDEN EAGLE: This was a stunning juvenile GOLDEN EAGLE and it was seen briefly circling (maybe a 15-18 circles) over South Quigley Lake, before moving off to the NW. It was also seen by Clay Davis, Kathy Davis, Scott Carpenter, and Steve Nord. The sun was bright and the leading edges of its upper wings were a wonderful golden brown as was a good portion of the head and neck. Its tail was the classic two color white with a dark terminus. As an added treat an adult BALD EAGLE joined it and together they circled in the same small thermal. They remained on oppisite sides of the circle, and this allowed for excellent binocular contrast of the head and bill differences between the two species. Soon the BALD EAGLE was joined by a second adult BALD EAGLE, and together the two BALD EAGLES paired and with a small flight dance move, headed off to the North, leaving the GOLDEN EAGLE alone again. At one point it was nearly directly over my car at about 100
feet high. Beautiful Bird!



Will Clemons
SW of Portland
willclemons AT Yahoo dot com

Birding:
The best excuse for getting outdoors
And avoiding chores

Complete list of 55 species seen / heard:

Pied-billed Grebe
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Golden Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Mourning Dove
Barn Owl
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Northern Flicker
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
House Finch