April 26, 2010

Ridgefield NWR on Sunday

We drove to Ridgefield yesterday and did the auto tour. We have only visited the refuge in the winter, so this was a fun time to go and see new things.






The sunny day brought out turtles for sunbatheing.



One of the highlights for me was this Bittern. We could see him really well and I have never seen one that well before.


A Towhee and Robin posed for photos.




There seemed to be a lot of nesting behavior going on. This wren (winter?) was collecting twigs for the nest.
Very cute!

Two male Yellowthroats were having a complicated territorial dispute it seemed. I watched them flit about for a long time. They were always on the move and hard to photograph. Their "witchety-witchety-witchety" call could be heard all over the refuge.



Another wren, marsh wren, collecting nest material.

We saw swallows collecting nest materials too. This swallow already found a suitable hole for the nest.
We saw about 35 species and enjoyed a nice morning.
We hope to go back soon and walk the trails that open in May.

7 comments:

  1. Ooh that lil sweetie is a House Wren. Cute!

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  2. I love that pile of turtles! And that wren with the sticks is too cute.

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  3. Looks like you had a great day!

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  4. I looked at all the pictures many times and I have no words ... a wonderful vision, thanks for sharing!
    :-)

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  5. once again, fantastic photos. i love all the turtles sunbathing!

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  6. Those are some fantastic nature shots! Absolutely breathtaking!

    -Pam

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