Greetings Tweeters,

My dad, younger brother, and myself had a very enjoyable day at
Nisqually with 71 species. There was patchy fog in the morning, and it
started off quite cold but warmed up as the day progressed. On our way to
the refuge, I had a Green Heron land on a log in a small pond along Hwy 512
in Pierce County.

As we pulled in to the parking lot I could see that there were Barn
Swallows swooping over the seasonal ponds near the parking lot. There were
at least 12 present in the morning, and many more in the evening as the sun
set (I counted 43 in the air at one time, and surely missed a few). Also in
the evening I had 6 Tree Swallows in this same area. Are these the first
seen in the state this season? About 70% of the Barn Swallows had virtually
pure white bellies. The remainder had pale peach-colored underparts, except
for one typical male. I suppose it may be possible that some of these are
Eurasian, but I think it is much more likely that these birds are simply very
stressed and malnourished being here 3 or 4 months too early. All of the
birds had very ratty plumage and were missing many feathers. At times they
looked quite exhausted and in bad shape. Nonetheless, they seemed to be
having some luck catching insects even when the temperature was in the
mid-30's in the morning. When it warmed up in the evening, they seemed to
calm down a bit and I was able to study them at length as they perched
nearby. None that I saw well had any bold breast bands, and the face pattern
was not good for "Eurasian" Barn Swallows.

A Ruddy Duck was in one of the seasonal ponds along the road to
McAllister Creek, along with the usual Buffleheads, wigeons, and pintails.
Seven Eurasian Wigeons were in McAllister. One Greater Yellowlegs was
calling along the shore. Along the McAllister Creek Trail I came across an
odd sparrow which appeared to be a Golden-crowned x White-throated Sparrow
hybrid. It was similar to a Golden-crowned, but had a yellow supraloral,
pure white throat bordered by dark lines, a strong eye-line, and a dark gray
bill. Quite the striking bird, but unfortunately it did not allow me to
study it in detail. Also along the McAllister Creek Trail were two Northern
Shrikes (and adult and an immature), one juvenile "Harlan's" Red-tailed Hawk,
a female columbarius Merlin, one Hutton's Vireo, several dozen "Myrtle"
Yellow-rumped Warblers, four Lincoln's Sparrows, and three Purple Finches.

On the delta was a juv. Peregrine Falcon, thousands of gulls including
several Western, and many Bald Eagles feasting on salmon. In one pan of the
scope I had counted 84 eagles from the outer platform. A flock of 100 Brant
was also on the shore. Heading back, a Great Horned Owl was roosting
inconspicuously in a large cottonwood across the Nisqually River from the
river overlook. It was perched not 15 feet below an immature Bald Eagle.
Near the beginning of the boardwalk, Steve Nord and I observed an apparent
male Gadwall x Mallard hybrid, or "Brewer's Duck" in the marsh. It was
roughly the same size as nearby wigeon, with a puffy head like a Gadwall but
otherwise structured like a Mallard. The fine vermiculations on a Gadwall's
breast was present, as were the curly tail feathers of a Mallard.
Interestingly, the bird also shows a red eye.

At around sunset I was watching the swallows again over the seasonal
ponds. This is when the Tree Swallows showed up, and all the birds perched
in an alder. Eight Tundra Swans flew in and landed in the pond, and a flock
of 70+ American Pipits flew overhead. I found a probable second year
"Nelson's Gull" Herring x Glaucous Gull hybrid along the edge of the pond
with a flock of Ring-billed; only the second I have seen in Washington. It
had a strikingly large bicolored pink and black bill, was very bulky, and was
mostly white overall with fine markings on the upperparts and tan primaries.
It was quite the hybrid extravaganza out there today.

Cheers and good birding,
Charlie Wright
Birdking88 at aol.com
Sumner, WA
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