Fantastic Day at the refuge! The woodlands are full of song with many Yellow
Warblers, some Wilson's and Orange-crowned Warblers. The trees were dripping
with Yellow-rumped Warblers (both "Audubon's" & "Myrtle"). Some of the
Canada Geese have goslings, and several female Mallards were seen with
ducklings in tow. The hummingbird chicks were perched on the edge of the
nest. Would this be the day they fledge? I checked back later in the day
and the two chicks were still there snuggled down back into the nest.

An increase in Bald Eagle numbers since my last visit last week. Speaking
with a refuge staff member, many of these birds appear to have arrived this
week. Saw a total of 22 birds, most on the tide flats of the sound. A
single bird (male?) was watched attacking the heron colony, chasing off the
adult heron and landing the feed on the nest contents.

Increase alos in numbers of American Goldfinch and Band-tailed Pigeons. Saw 2
Pileated Woodpeckers, Long-billed Dowitcher, Least Sandpipers, Greater
Yellowlegs, a huge flock of peeps way out on the mudflats had to go
unidentified. Even had some nice views of mammals including a River Otter and
a Mink.

The Harris's Sparrow remains, now in complete breeding plumage. It's a
striking bird. It's still found in the northwest corner of the refuge on the
5.5 mile dike trail.

While at the observation platform at the barns I watched a single Turkey
Vulture soar over with a smaller bird sharing the thermal. I was very
surprised to see that it was a dark phased Swainson's Hawk. I watched it for
10 minutes as it caught insects in the air with it's talons, and then proceed
to eat it's prey on the wing. I watched about a dozen captures, so the
feeding must have been good up there. The bird was last seen heading out
over the sound in a northwest direction, towards the Olympic Mts. I'm not
sure how uncommon this species is in Western Washington, this was my first
sighting on this side of the Cascades. This was also my first dark phase
bird and demanded a lot of study. As I watched it through my binoculars and
later my scope it appeared to be a uniform smokey black in color. The tail
being a slightly lighter shade. There was a hint of a darker shade forming a
terminal band on the tail, but mostly the bird appeared very uniform in
color. The bright yellow of the talons, and beak providing the only
contrast. Overall it's slender tapered wings and behavior suggested a large
dark kite hawking insects.

I love this time of year - you never know what surprises await!

Steve Nord
Olympia, WA
BirdingRanger at aol.com