Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I ventured to Thurston Co. for a few hours this
afternoon to check a few birding locations, including Black Lake Meadows,
west of Olympia, and the wetlands around the Nisqually NWR visitor center,
mainly in search of Solitary Sandpiper(s), and any other shorebirds, as well
as songbird migrants. The weather was fairly good, with only isolated rain
showers, but the wind was constant, being heavy at times, especially at
Nisqually NWR. The best notable highlight was a cooperative calling DUSKY
FLYCATCHER that was observed at the southwest corner of Black Lake Meadows,
foraging alone in a small Scotch Broom thickets, surrounded by fairly dense
low deciduous vegetation, and scattered small outcropings of Douglas fir
trees. This is the second Thurston Co. record that I am aware of, with the
other sighting also occuring at this location on May 20,1998 by Bill
Shelmerdine. It seems and appears that small numbers of Dusky Flycatchers
are moving through areas of western WA,OR, and BC, as they are strictly
migrants, but recent breeding has occured in a few eastern portion of
western WA counties, including Snohomish, Skagit, and possibly King.

Other species of note at Black Lake Meadows included:

1 pair of WOOD DUCKS
7 Common Snipe
3 Band-tailed Pigeons
7 Orange-crowned warblers
1 MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER
5 Wilson's Warblers
2 male BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS
2 Evening Grosbeaks

On our way home we checked the newly established wetland, just north of the
Nisqually NWR visitor center, where the SOLITARY SANDPIPER was relocated,
which was originally observed earlier last week. The wind was quite fierce,
bu we managed to locate a few other species in the general vicinity, and the
flooded fields to the west including:

6 Cinnamon Teal
12 Least Sandpipers
1 Common Snipe

Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net