Today, 04/28, I decided to check out the shorebirds at Nisqually NWR in
Olympia. Not much in the way of passerines. The waterfowl numbers are
dropping, mostly teal, Bufflehead, Shovelers, and a small group of wigeon
left. The pond on the south side of the trail heading to McAllister Creek
contained:
2 Sora (note: there could be large numbers of rails at Nisqually right now,
I had trouble keeping track of totals. Would be fun to be there before dawn
and try to get a count)
1 Gr. Yellowlegs
33 Western Sandpipers
4 Least Sandpipers
7 Dunlin

The pond on the north side of this trail had:
Canada Goose (one group of goslings now)
2 Cinnamon Teal (drakes)
1 BLUE-WINGED TEAL (drake)
3 Sora
3 Virginia Rail
1 A. Coot
4 LESSER YELLOWLEGS
5 Least Sandpipers

The newer pond that is after the large willow group on the way to the Twin
Barns overlook contained:
3 Wood Ducks
1 SOLITARY SANDPIPER (probably the same bird that the Sullivan's saw last
week)

This was the same location for the Solitary's last year in the spring and
fall. Seems like this pond is a real magnet for the species. Also as you
look north from the Twin Barns observation platform you can see some ponds
on the border of the open farm field. These ponds had some shorebirds, but
they were too far away to ID...NOTE: this could be a hot spot this spring,
let's check these ponds carefully for Avocet or Stilts (I believe this was
were the Avocet was seen last year, and the area looks good again!).

Also made a very quick stop at Luhr Beach on the way home, the tide was
extremely low. Birds seen:
2 Eared Grebe
Brant
Greater Scaup (good numbers, maybe staging?)
2 Greater Yellowlegs (on the reach)
7 WHIMBREL (on the exposed flats, this is a pretty early date for Nisqually
judging from Steve Nord's observations. His early date for Nisqually was
May 12, with a peak at the end of May. Any other Thurston Co. birders have
early dates?)

Good birding,
Jason Paulios
JPaulios at hotmail.com
Olympia, WA

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