Today I spent the morning walking the open trails at the Nisqually
Refuge starting along the riverside trail to the ring dike pond. I had
50+ PINE SISKIN flitting through the trees along with both kinglet
species, BLACK CAPPED CHICKADEES, BROWN CREEPERS, and DOWNY WOODPECKERS.
At the end of the trail, where the stop sign is placed, one different
bird sang out. A CASSIN'S VIREO. I searched for the bird, only getting a
glimpse of it as it flew further up the trail beyond the stop sign.
Other birds noted were many RED TAILED HAWKS (1 dark morph), 2 ROUGH
LEGGED HAWKS, 3 MARSH HAWKS (2 juvs, 1 male).
Along the center trail, 1 TUNDRA SWAN, and hundreds of AMERICAN WIGEON
along with N. PINTAILS, GREEN WINGED TEAL, N. SHOVELERS, and MALLARDS,
filled all the ponds back to the twin barns. Also many gulls were
sitting along the ponds. Mostly RINGED BILLED and MEW, and possibly a
couple of THAYERS in the mix.

Dave Hayden