Scappoose Birding

My sister and I spent another FULL day of birding in Oregon and Washington. We started out heading towards Sauvie Island, but decided to become adventurous and see if we could get down near the slough in Scappoose...which we managed quite nicely and somehow found the coolest road to explore. There were hawks and kestrels everywhere we looked. During our driving on the road we discovered another photographer who was "baiting" the birds with circular bait traps left on the road...we disrupted his shot, and he sped away after snatching up his bait. The whole thing left me feeling a bit unhappy to see this sort of behavior, and was wondering how the rest of you feel on this issue? Feel free to comment.

After Scappoose we headed to Sauvie Island, and then to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge up in Washington. I have to say, even though we had to stay inside the car, we had a blast watching the Northern Harrier's flying low over the grassland...I learned (thanks to my sister) how to identify them. The most interesting behavior was the fact that they sit on the ground. I had never looked on the open fields for them...I will never miss them again. Of course there was an abundance of red-tailed hawks, blue heron and egrets. Right before sunset, in flew the sandhill cranes, which I had never seen before. The sound of them flying in was so different, and watching them land was a treat.

Be sure to check out my photos on flickr...