Disclaimer: None of the birds mentioned in this message were had by me or by my companions.
Hi Tweeters,



I just returned from a very exciting day at Nisqually. Along



with the usual herons, eagles, harriers, etc. we saw a lone

Sandhill Crane. It was in a field NW of the twin barns.

Later, from the Nisqually River side of the dike trail we

looked west and saw in the distance a light colored bird with

white tail and black marks on the wings. It was so far distant we



couldn't tell exactly what part of the wing was black. From its

hovering behavior however, we tentatively identified it as a

Black-shouldered kite. How common are they at Nisqually (I can't

find my Nisqually check list, con sarn it!)?

Finally, as we neared the parking lot on the southern leg of



the dike trail, we saw a pair of geese associating with some

Canada Geese. They were smaller than the Canadas, white rumps,

orange legs, pink bills, very much like the "tundra" version of a



Greater White-fronted Goose pictured in the NG field guide.

However, the band at the base of the bill appeared pink rather

than white, like a continuation of the bill. Any ideas?

Two warbler questions: Do warblers engage in fly catching

(flying from the top of a tree)? Would both "Myrtle" and

"Audubon's" Yellow-rumps be present at Nisqually now? I know

there has been a lot of chat about Yellow-rumps lately, but I

just haven't had time to keep up. I apologize if this is recently



discussed info.



Michael B. Brown

Puyallup, WA

MBEB1215 at delphi.com