I began my morning meaning before light trying to locate a barred owl or
western screech owl spending time north of Ridgefield. Unfortunately I did not
have one owl respond.
I decided to give this trail area another try, at the urging of Luke Hanes,
this morning and walked about four miles of it. I found a male Western
bluebird just past milemarker 1.5. It was downhill in an old clear cut and was
moving through the area. I heard it before seeing it. Soon after on the trail
I found a Townsend's solitaire about 60 yards off the trail i was able to take
some bad pictures. I walked a 8 mile loop and decided to take road L1210 that
leads to the parkinglot. While walking I saw a bird perched in a shrub and
there was another male Western bluebird. I was able to get some, what else,
bad photos. The GOOD news for those of you who want a Western bluebird on your
County list the bird was about 150 yards from the yellow gate at the end of the
parkinglot! YES I walked eight miles and returned to find my target bird
within a few hundred yards of my vehicle. THANKS LUKE.
Another bird worth mentioning was a singing hermit warbler (#165) because I am
sure it is a bit early. If anyone has better info on early hermit warblers i
am interested to hear from you.
Also I had 8 black-throated gray, 1 Townsend's and 6 orange-crowned warblers.
Also about 200 yards from the start of the trail I could hear a northern pygmy
owl calling to the east it did so until I was out of range. I had two gray
jays pay me a visit and two band-tailed pigeons fly over. Had a few red
crossbills and quite a few pacific wrens.
Bob Flores
Ridgefield, WA
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