Subject: Nisqually NWR, American Lake, East Bay, etc...
Date: Dec 26 16:34:58 1999
From: RTShaw80 at aol.com - RTShaw80 at aol.com


Hi Tweets,
Well I had a very nice leisurely birding day this morning and afternoon
stopping at several spots in Thurston County and 1 spot in Pierce County. My
first stop was Nisqually NWR. I walked the trail out towards McCalister
Creek without seeing much. The birding really began to pick up along the
trail parrallel with McCalister Creek when a Tan-striped WHITE-THROATED
SPARROW popped up into a tree alongside the trail. And when I thought that
was good, it got even better when an AMERICAN TREE SPARROW came up and
perched on the branch right above it! I had excelent scope views of these
two birds at 40x for about 5 minutes before deciding to move on. Farther
down the path, I encountered another WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, this time a
white-striped morph. I only observed this bird for about a minute before it
dissapeared beneath the brush.

I then made my way to American Lake in search of the LITTLE GULL. No luck on
the LITTLE GULL, there only being about 50 BONAPARTE'S flying around. But
had a nice mixed flock of CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES, GOLDEN-CROWNED
KINGLETS, TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS, and A BROWN CREEPER or two.
My next stop was East Bay Marina, the highlight there for me being a pair of
BLACK SCOTERS among several BARROW'S GOLDENEYES.

Next up for me was the Tumwater Falls Historical Park. There I observed 4
bathing HERRING GULLS, my only Herrings for the day, and farther up the
river near the falls were 2 AMERICAN DIPPERS. There was also a large flock
of PINE SISKENS hanging around the trees, I searched to no avail for Common
Redpoll. I just have no luck in finding a redpoll...
Well my final quick stop was to Tolmie State Park, where I observed at least
2 male EURASIAN WIGEON in the large flock of Americans.
Well 70 species later, here's my list. I think I will do this route again
new years day except add a stop to Go-le-hi-ti for the SBGU and GLGU.

Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Mallard
Gadwall
Green-winged Teal
American Wigeon
Eurasian Wigeon
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Black Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Surf Scoter
Barrow's Goldeneye
Common Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Greater Yellowlegs
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Mew Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Western Gull
Rhinocerous Auklet
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Steller's Jay
Scrub Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Brown Creeper
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
American Dipper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Townsend's Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
American Tree Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Sisken
House Sparrow

Sorry So long
Ryan Shaw
Lacey, WA
rtshaw80 at aol.com