For the Birds – At Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

I’d heard of Ridgefield before as a birder’s paradise – and yes, a bird’s paradise – but this was our first stop at the Refuge. Off the beaten path, it’s located north of Vancouver, Washington, near the Columbia River, and on our way home from our road trip to the Columbia Gorge last week, we decided to stop.

According to the website, “Ridgefield NWR was established in 1965 to provide wintering habitat for the dusky subspecies of the Canada goose whose habitat is extremely limited. Since then, smaller pieces of land have been added to create what is now Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.  

Staff and partners strive to work with the community to restore and conserve Oregon oak woodlands, pastures and wetland habitats. These lands provide the perfect environment for state and federally protected species such as Columbian white-tailed deer, Sandhill cranes and other wildlife.”

It’s much larger than I realized, and there are two major sections. We went to the River S Unit and took the auto tour, stopping to view the birds and wildlife, only exiting our vehicle when allowed, at blinds.

The one-way gravel road surrounds an area that includes several lakes, marshes, and a river. There were a handful of other slow-moving vehicles, drivers and passengers with binoculars and cameras in hand.

In addition to the lakes filled with ducks, geese and swans,

we saw plenty of egrets and great blue herons hunting and fishing

or just out for a stroll.

Other birds soared overhead.

Afterwards, we stopped at one of our favorite burger places, In-n-Out, only recently arrived in Washington, the only one so far, at Ridgefield. (We used to get our fix of the delicious burgers on our annual trips to California.)

Now we have another reason to go back to Ridgefield – for the birds and the burgers. Next time we’ll walk the trails of the Carty Unit of the Wildlife Refuge, hopefully, this spring.

~ Susanne