A friend and I birded Theler Wetlands today under gorgeous blue skies.

We had 34 species for the day. Highlights:

5 Bald Eagles (3 adult, 2 immature) a high for me at Theler.

1 Green Heron, first of the year for me.

2 Virgina Rails.

This is the second time in my last three trips that I've seen a Rail at
Theler. As we arrived at the bridge over the mudflat, we heard them
call, then soon saw one. I took 93 photographs over the next 7 minutes
at a distance of about 5 meters. The bird would run into the open,
probe the mud, find something to eat, scurry back under cover, then
after a short rest repeat the cycle all over again.

According to BNA:

... at 1 mo, entire bill is black. Tip of bill and small area around
nasal septum are often the last to lose the white/pink coloration.

and

the iris is black at hatching, changing to dark olive during third week,
olive brown by fourth week, brown by eighth week.

Based on this I would guess this bird is 3-4 weeks old (correct me if
I'm wrong).

Photos here:

http://skygardener.zenfolio.com/p1055132362

--
John Riegsecker
Gig Harbor, WA
jriegsecker at pobox dot com