Ridgefield 11-23-16

[Bill Anderson]

Wednesday my son and I stopped at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge on our way to PDX to spend Thanksgiving with relatives. It was not raining as we made the loop, but it was very dark and gloomy. Most of these photos were taken from my car with the 5DIII + 100-400L II telephoto zoom as you are not allowed to leave your vehicle this time of year except for the area around the blind.

Nutria are prevalent at Ridgefield. This large rodent was originally imported from South America for its fur and meat, but has since become a pest in North America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coypu






I think this is a female ring-necked duck.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Swans were the most prominent bird.


Looking east from the blind. The road circles the lake.


Looking back west across the lake towards the blind. Taken from the road seen in the photo above.


The blind is visible in the background.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Great egrets were prevalent at Ridgefield and other locations in the area.

 

[Bill Anderson]

It was very dark when these last photos were taken.

I usually see at least one female northern harrier at Ridgefield.




This time I saw a male in a field beside the road.

 

[Bill Anderson]

Concluding the visit with a variation of an old joke: "Why did the geese cross the road?"

 

[Bill Anderson]

I think these are red-tailed hawks. Other than the photos of the harriers, I didn't get any good raptor shots. The photos are not good as I had to crank up the positive exposure compensation plus the difficulty of shooting between branches when you cannot get out of your car.