Subject: Nisqually, 6 Barn Swallows, etc.
Date: Jan 23 16:20:04 2003
From: Lynn Schulz - linusq at worldnet.att.net


Hi Birders:
Well, yesterday was just a horrendous day for a field trip. 100% chance of
rain and high winds were forecast. But at least the weather man said that
the rain would be warmer than the day before. I was not looking forward to
taking a group down to Nisqually, and to two parks near there, Tolmie State
Park, and Luhr Beach boat ramp.
10 of us intrepid birders met at the visitor's ctr. It continued to rain,
but we
immediately saw the Peregrine Falcon in top of the big fir at the visitor's
ctr. It flew and we watched as many ducks took flight. Then we started
walking (in the rain) about 9am on the McAllister Creek trail (road). It
was raining so
much, the fields were so flooded, that I wondered if the road would be
flooded, but it's built-up well and we had no problem. Some swallows
swooped in and some landed in a bush next to the trail. We ended up w/ 6
Barn Swallows. Insects were in the air (in the rain and w/ it being 46
degrees)! Two myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers were fly-catching from bushes
next to the trail. We got some great close views of them. We were having a
good morning. And yes, it was still
raining. As long as we were seeing birds no one seemed to care. We saw a
number of raptors there: an imm Bald Eagle, several Red-tails, and two N
Harriers. I tried to turn one buteo into a Rough-legged Hawk, but it flew,
and I couldn't call it. Did I say that I was having trouble w/ fogging
lenses? We looked for the imm N Shrike that had been seen out there on the
weekend, but missed it.
>From Nisqually we traveled to the end of Hogum Rd (near the now-closed off
Lacey Clearcut) and walked around a little. Saw a Red-tail, and heard a
couple of Hairy Woodpeckers. Then on to Tolmie State Park, where we saw a
Red-throated
Loon. Our last stop was Luhr Beach boat ramp. We scoped thousands of
Dunlin and about 60 Brant. We never had any of the winds that were
forecast.
In the end, everyone had a good time because we saw a good number of
species. We ended up w/ 54 species for the day. It only stopped raining
for a short time.
Yours, Carol Schulz
DesMoines, WA
linusq at att.net