Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I enjoyed a lovely Easter Sunday birding in Thurston and Lewis Cos.,beginning at the Weir Prairie near the town of Rainier in Thurston Co.,then traveling south to the Centralia Steam Plant along Big Hanaford Rd.(east of Centralia),then a short stop made on our way home at the Nisqually NWR. We actually managed to have a better day birding wise compared to yesterday due to more overall highlights and the quality of birding along with visiting more relatively unbirded locations than our normal routine. We encountered highlights at all 3 locations we visited,but our main highlight of the day was single Vesper Sparrow at the Weir Prairie that was observed and photographed at close range,being quite early for the location in which this species is locally noted in very limited numbers during the breeding season after May. We also encountered up to 5 Northern Bobwhites observed and heard calling from two locations during our visit between 10am-1pm. A single pair of Northern Bobwhites were observed in our spotting scope foraging on a gravel road for few minutes,before returning into thick cover near the same location we observed the Vesper Sparrow. Our overall visit to the location was quite productive with other notable species that were observed including the following:

1 Am.Kestrel
1 Band-tailed Pigeon
1 Northern Pygmy Owl(heard only calling for a lengthy period from dense stands of conifers bordering the west portion of the lower prairie)
1 male Hairy Woodpecker
6 House Wrens
5 Western Bluebirds
2 Townsend's Solitaires
8+ Orange-crowned Warblers(with good numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers)
14+ Chipping Sparrows
6 Western Meadowlarks
25+ Purple Finches
1 Red Crossbill
1 Evening Grosbeak

After leaving the Weir Prairie we continued on towards the Centralia Steam Plant via S.R.507,where a single Western Scrub Jay was noted in the town of Tenino. Upon arriving to the Centralia Steam Plant along Big Hanaford Rd. we encountered good numbers of waterfowl with increased shorebird activity during our visit between 2pm-3pm,being our most productive shorebird visit to date due to the overall diversity and numbers of shorebirds for the inland location that should continue to be good through the spring. We carefully scoped all the wetland areas along Big Hanaford Rd. east and west of the actual steam plant facilities with up to 9 species of shorebird noted,including our main highlight for this location being 3 Lesser Yellowlegs amongst nearby Greater Yellowlegs for comparison along with other species of shorebirds. The most shorebird activity was noted along Big Hanaford Rd. east of the main facilities and immediately north of the setting ponds,as the shorebirds actively foraged along with resting waterfowl so all our scoping was made from the immediate road,as we parked in a pulloff. Other notable species during our visit included the following:

good numbers of foraging Canada Geese(mainly consisting of "Cackling"Canada Geese)
1 pair of Cinnamon Teal
1 male Eurasian Wigeon
1 female Canvasback
3 Black-bellied Plovers
38 Greater Yellowlegs
205+ Least Sandpipers
34 Western Sandpipers
132+ Dunlin
16 Short-billed Dowitchers
2 Mourning Doves

We also observed up to 9 Roosevelt Elk foraging north of the wetland areas on exposed hillsides.

On our way home as mentioned we stopped by the Nisqually NWR with a short walk along the McAllister Creek trail from the parking lot checking the wetland areas on both sides of the trail. We noted a few shorebird species along with a few other species than our previous visit including the following:

1 male Cinnamon Teal
4 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Lesser Yellowlegs
6 Least Sandpipers


A single Western Scrub Jay started out our day in Lakewood,Pierce Co. then upon arriving home we observed our first Hermit Thrush of the season in our yard and a Golden-crowned Kinglet in one of our birdbaths,which made for good way to end our weekend.

Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net