Ridgefield NWR!!!!

Hey Everyone!
Saturday we finally went to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge!!
While we were there we only went around the auto tour but we still had a great time. I was really looking forward to going there and it certainly didn't let us down!

On our way into the refuge, we spotted this coyote foraging for lunch. It looked pretty scraggly and slim.

This was one of the many herons that we saw. We ended up seeing 30 herons by the time we reached the end.

At first I didn't spot this raptor. Then after looking through the binoculars, I could identify that it was a rough-legged hawk. This picture was actually taken through the binoculars.

We saw three bald eagles flying in and out of this tree. There were two immature eagles (like this one) and one mature eagle with a nice white head.

This was the first nutria that we've ever seen. He was virtually ignoring us, just chowing down on something on the ground.

I couldn't even count how many swans there were. You can't see them in this picture, but just swimming along next to the swans was a pair of otters.

When we were near the end of the car loop, we saw a very spectacular show of an eagle taking on both herons and this red-tailed hawk! The herons and the hawk were hunting for the many voles and mice in this field.

Well here we are at the end. It was a really nice sunny day which produced this fantastic photo op.

Here is my list from our drive through the Ridgefield car loop.

1. American crow - 5
2. Bald eagle - 4
3. Rough-legged hawk - 2
4. Great blue heron - 30
5. Northern harrier - 4
6. Snow geese - 100s!
7. Canada geese - 100s!
8. Tundra Swans - too many to count
9. Northern Pintail - 8
10. American coot - 16
11. Northern Shoveler - 4
12. Golden crown sparrow - 3
13. Black capped chickadee - 2
14. Double-crested cormorant - 2
15. Ruddy Duck - 82!
16. Common merganser - 7
17. Mallard - 14
18. Red-tailed hawk - 3

Bonus animals

1. Nutria - 1
2. Mice - lots!
3. Vole - lots!
4. River otter - 2