Hey Tweets,

After reading about all the great birding trips everyone has taken ( or plans
to take) Bill Ward and I decided we'ld stay close to home today & visit
Nisqualley Wildlife Refuge. We got there at 8:00 and signed in. We hadn't
gotten 100 yards from the kiosk & had already seen a downey woodpecker, a
redbreasted sapsucker, and a northern flicker in the orchard. I commented we
needed was a hairy woodpecker, or better yet, a pileated to fill out our
woodpecker card. No such luck. Oh well, another reason to go back, especially
since it is so close to home.

In the orchard we also saw starlings, robins, song sparrows, black capped
chickadees, and a small bird with a noticable white eye-ring that stayed back
in the shadows for quite some time. We finally got a good look and decided it
was a ruby-crowned kinglet.

As time was short we only did the Twin Barns Loop. We heard that the great
horned owl was hanging out near the NW corner of the reserve so we didn't see
that. We did see at least 3 norther harriers, lots of canada geese, a few
mallards, and a female wood duck. A large flock of small ducks ( teal?) or
large shore birds ( doubtful ) flew into the center of the refuge just as we
got to the observation platform at the twin barns. Later we saw some
green-winged teal , so perhaps that is what we saw. We also saw a couple of
bewick's wrens, red-wigned blackbirds, a cowbird, and a juve common
yellowthroat. A couple more ruby-crowned kinglets were seen ( the same one
followed us?). There was also a swallow that was clearly lost...the only one
of his (her?) kind we saw. Also saw a redtailed hawk high in a tree near the
office waiting for the fog to burn off & get warmed up by the morning sun.

About 20 species, but not bad for a day that started out foggy & cool and was
pretty warm by the time the lawn mower called at 10:30.

BTW, the dike trail closes 10/4/97 till mid-Jan 98 for safety reasons when
duck hunting season is open. If you want to do the whole loop you've got two
weeks.

Good birding.

Phil Kelley
Lacey, Wa
scrbjay at aol.com