The black pheobe is primarily a bird of the Southwest. It has been expanding its range into Oregon and Washington for a few years. It has been recorded at Willapa’s Tarlatt Slough in the South Bay Unit, and at the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian white-tailed deer, and on Wireless Road in Warrenton.

The Pacific Northwest is the best place to be. It is alive! Birds, mammals, and other critters abound. I am seeing porcupines, coyotes, a raccoon, garter snakes, mosquitos, and all manner of wildlife. Flora also brightens the days. Nature fills my days with pleasure, good health, entertainment and education. What more can I ask for?

These benefits were realized many times over this week on a visit to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge while on the driving tour. Forty-seven species made an appearance in the two and a half hours I spent there. If you haven’t been lately and you want to see birds this is a place to be, and it is a good time. The birds are singing, nesting, foraging and some are on parade. Canada geese and their goslings are on parade. They parade out onto the road where the young forage along the roadside while both parents hover over them to protect them from predators. Soon they will be teenagers and then adults foraging on their own. There were several families to observe at different stages. Parents with newly hatched goslings, another set with goslings a few weeks old and then yet another set of parents with almost teenage young were all on parade. As cars approached the families would saunter off into the nearby water to continue the parade swimming in a line headed by one parent with another bringing up the rear.

Then, there were a pair of sandhill cranes! They were foraging in the wetland along the side of the road. What a sight! They are majestic in flight and their loud, echoing rattle as they fly overhead is unbelievable. In addition to foraging, dancing was on their mind. Their beautiful, graceful, dance routine is an important part of their mating ritual. We watched their performance for at least 20 minutes. According to eBird, sandhills are known to have nested in the Ridgefield area. The sandhill crane is one of the largest birds in the Pacific Northwest, standing nearly four feet tall. It is one of only two crane species in North America, the other being the endangered whooping crane.

One of the most elusive nesting birds at Ridgefield is the great horned owl. It takes a keen eye to find them. The driving tour goes through diverse habitats including small, forested areas, which is where, if one is lucky, a great horned owl may be roosting. As we drove through a treed area one suddenly came into view. It was sitting on a branch along the forest edge, but then there were two! They were many trees away from each other but they obviously were a pair. How sweet is that? Owlets were searched for, but not seen. Perhaps the adults didn’t nest this year, or their nestlings were taken by a predator. However, the excitement of seeing a pair of great horned owls was exhilarating. It was so much so that when we finished the driving tour we decided to do the loop one more time just to see if we could find the owls again and of course to view the sandhill cranes once more. By the time we reached the wooded area it was dinner time for the owls! Lucky for us! We found them again and as we watched one swooped down to capture prey, a rodent. Three other raptors made an appearance including a red-tailed hawk, northern harrier and an American kestrel. It was dusk so they were on the hunt for their last meal of the day.

Waterfowl, besides the Canada geese were observed too, including green-winged teal, northern shovellers, bufflehead, hooded merganser, blue-winged teal, cinnamon teal, American wigeon, gadwall, and wood duck. Shorebirds were scarce but a few species such as greater yellowlegs, killdeer, Wilson’s phalarope and dowitchers were still feeding in the wetlands. Blackbirds were present too. Red-wings were singing their “konk-a-ree,” yellow-headed blackbirds were calling from the reeds, and Brewer’s blackbirds were foraging for seeds along the roadside. Many species of birds have been slow to arrive this spring, and some like the golden-crowned sparrow seem to be staying with us longer. Soon they will leave for their breeding grounds in British Columbia.

It was a grand day, to say the least. I highly recommend the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge’s vehicle tour. Happy Birding!