National Wildlife Refuges

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Washington, 1966

Ridgefield NWR has a total of 5,218 acres of marshes, grasslands and woodlands. There is a 4.2 mile auto tour route and 1.2 mile seasonal hiking trail that provide a glimpse of what the refuge provides.

Ridgefield was established in 1966, along with 3 other refuges in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, to secure vital winter habitat for Dusky Canada geese and other wintering waterfowl. With subsequent changes to nesting habitat and reduction in dusky populations following the violent earthquake of 1964 in Alaska, the need for secure wintering habitat became even more important.

Stately sandhill cranes, shorebirds, and a great variety of songbirds stop at the Refuge during spring and fall migrations. Some bird species such as mallards, great blue herons, and red-tailed hawks are year-round residents that nest on the refuge. Black-tailed deer are the largest mammal on the refuge. Coyote, raccoon, skunk, beaver, river otter and brush rabbits are occasionally seen. 

Doing these posts on the National Wildlife Refuges has brought to light some changes that I need to make in my process. I had many photos of Ridgefield and it's various waterbirds including Sandhill Cranes, ducks, and geese. However, as I have gone through my 25,000 photos (over the past 20 years) I have either deleted or not scanned many into my computer. For example,  I had many Sandhill Crane photos from Ridgefield, but had others from Bosque del Apache, NM or Whitewater Draw in Arizona, that were better photos, so I ended up deleted the Ridgefield ones. In doing so, I am not able to show the variety of birds that can be found in this wonderful refuge. With the storage capacity of computers now, keeping additional photos is not a problem. So, I am going to be much more careful in my "selection/deletion" process than I have been in the past. Here's what's left of my Ridgefield photos (all taken during the mid nineties):

Ferruginous Hawk

Great Blue Heron Drying his Wings

Great Blue Heron Walking

Great Blue Heron Eating

Great Egret