Scappoose Dike

• Western Scrub-Jays
• Red-Winged Blackbird
• American Wigeons 
• Mallards
• Great Blue Herons
• Green-Winged Teals
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Cinnamon Teals - my mom caught these before me (good eye!) then we had to wait for them to come back so I could see them!
• Bushtits
• Canada Geese
• American Robins
• Great Egrets - a field of 19 of them!
• Red-Tailed Hawks
• Belted Kingfisher - male
• American Kestrels

Whitaker Ponds Nature Park

Once again, one birding trip in a day is not enough, especially if one of us gets a lifer in the first one.  Gotta keep that momentum going! 

• American Crows
• Bald Eagle
• Oregon Juncos
• Great Egrets 
• Canada Geese
• Song Sparrows
• Belted Kingfisher - female
• European Starlings
• American Wigeons
• Mallards
• Ring-Necked Ducks - males and females
• Green-Winged Teals - male and female
• Eurasian Wigeon* - male
• Great Blue Herons
• Gadwalls - males and females
• Hooded Mergansers - male and female
• Downy Woodpeckers - male and female
• American Robins
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Anna's Hummingbirds - call
• Western Scrub-Jay
• House Finches
• Pine Siskins
• Yellow-Rumped Warblers
• Red-Tailed Hawk
• Cinnamon Teals - male and female
• Double-Crested Cormorant

*Lifer!

Great Egret
Never seen at Whitaker Pounds by either of us, and we saw four!

Sharpening it's beak.

Quick, let's get outta here!

Bald Eagle and Great Egret in passing.

It was a strange day at the pond.

Downy Woodpecker - male

Pine Siskin

House Finch pair

Downy Woodpecker - female

American Robin

Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge

"As cousins, we went birding at Ridgefield the day before Thanksgiving." HAA!
Another great trip to Ridgefield with my bird instructor/cousin. 

• Mallards
• Great Egret
• American Kestrel
• American Coot
• Northern Shoveler
• Western Gull
• Great Blue Heron - juvenile
• American Robins
• European Starlings
• Western Scrub-Jays
• Pied-Billed Grebe
• Northern Flicker
• Cinnamon Teal
• Hooded Merganser - male
• Tundra Swans*
• Northern Harrier
• Bufflehead - female
• Peregrine Falcon*
• Gadwalls
• Bald Eagles - juvenile and adult
• Bewick's Wren
• American Wigeons
• Red-Tailed Hawks
• Northern Pintails
• Sandhill Cranes
• Black-Capped Chickadees
• Red-Winged Blackbirds
• Canada Geese

+Coyote

+Beavers

+Nutria

*Lifers!

Juvenile Great Blue Heron

European Starlings

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.