Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge

An added bonus to this trip:  we took a wrong turn and saw a garage sale where a retired man was selling bird houses he makes with licence plate roofs.  Very cool!

• Barn Swallows
• Tree Swallows
• Great Blue Heron
• American Goldfinch
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• Mallards - male and female
• Yellow-Headed Blackbird* - male
• Wood Duck
• American Robin
• Song Sparrow (feeding a juvenile Brown-Headed Cowbird that was larger than the sparrow.  The sparrow was frantically jumping/flying back and forth between food sources and the large chick, the chick seeming to have an endless appetite and the poor song sparrow quickly running out of steam.  It was quite the sight to see.  Cowbirds are infamous for dumping their eggs in other species' nests, but to see the strain it caused on the mother bird was pretty amazing and a little sad.)
• Wilson's Snipe*
• Gadwalls
• Common Yellowthroat
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Bewick's Wren
• American Bittern 
• Cedar Waxwing
• Brown-Headed Cowbird
• Red-Breasted Sapsucker*
• American Coot and chicks (I was first to see the little, brightly colored red chicks, just for a second.  I knew my cousin was going to think I was crazy, but I had to admit I saw some sort of little red bird.  As I expected, an expression of disbelief spread across his face.  Soon they made another appearance, this time with the parents and it all made sense.  It was the first time either of us had seen a Coot chick.  We had no idea they turn from red to black!)
• Brewer's Blackbird
• Northern Flicker (Rolling around, dust bathing.  Another odd sight of the day.)
• Cinnamon Teal*
• American Kestrel
• Turkey Volture
• Red-Tailed Hawk

*Lifer

Great Blue Heron

We also saw Red Painted Turtles

Walking trail portion of the refuge.