With weather that didn't crash the plan, I enjoyed a couple days of birding
with friends old and new Friday afternoon and Saturday on WOS field trips.
Nine of us gathered for the Woodland Bottoms venue, featuring the skilled
leadership of Professor Cowlitz (a.k.a. Russ Koppendrayer) touring a
well-planned route with strategic access points to the Columbia River.
Guild Road produced a single-species best 3600 points (that's code 3 Snow
Goose X 1200, heading north with a tail wind) and the first of four
Rough-legged Hawks. In addition to "mundane" local wintering Sandhill
Cranes, a few other highlights included a continuing Black Phoebe at the
north Dike Road pump station, and a total of four Red-breasted Mergansers in
separate locations of the Columbia River. Your WOS President, the one with
incredibly acute hearing, posted an ebird report with 57 species.
https://ebird.org/pnw/view/checklist/S43326215



Saturday was even better. Eleven of us enjoyed the co-leadership of your
current and immediate-past WOS Presidents (that would be Cindy and Jim, the
ones with acute hearing.) With stops at Salmon Creek, Fruit Valley Park,
Old Lower River Road, Vancouver Lake, Frenchman's Bar, to the end of Lower
River Road that included a special access opportunity to Post Office Lake,
and a few stops along the Vancouver waterfront ending in Wintler Park, we
enjoyed a cumulative 101 species. That would qualify as a new big day
record for Clark County in March, and would equal the total set last month
on February 9. You can get details in Cindy's ebird reports but will need
to click on 12 checklists to get all the details. A few highlights include
23 species of waterfowl (we did not visit Ridgefield NWR!), a very active
group of songbirds at Fruit Valley Park with Townsend's Warblers foraging on
the ground, a continuing Western Screech Owl, the continuing Snowy Egret at
the end of Lower River Road, a/the sub-adult Glaucous Gull with other gulls
floating down the Columbia River tending a sea lion "on bait," 320 Cedar
Waxwings in two trees over berry bushes, and the usual mundane Snow Geese
and Sandhill Cranes. As always, a good group to bird with, and weather to
match.



Randy Hill

Ridgefield

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