Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and visited just a few locations from the Nisqually NWR to the Brady Loop Rd. area,despite the near constant rain showers throughout the day along with stiff westerly winds at most locations. We began at the Nisqually NWR then continued to the Brady-Elma area,where our two main highlights occurred. Our first main highlight was 3 PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS amongst a flock of 23 Black-bellied Plovers west of the southern end of Foster Rd. in a large,partially flooded corn stubble field,where recent golden plover reports have come from by other observers. The exact location is north of the Brady Loop Rd. intersection and south of the residence on the east side of the road,but the Black-bellied Plover flock may move around within that field,but seem to favor the western edge of the corn stubble field furthest away from Foster Rd.We arrived at the location at 1:30pm and scoped the more drier portion of the corn stubble field where the Black-bellied Plover flock was noted and standing along the road at times a possible golden plover was noted,but we couldn't get clear details on the bird due to the undulations of the ground and constant winds viewing was very limited in our spotting scopes,but we continued our stay until the flock flew up revealing at least two golden plovers at 1:45pm going by the narrow winged appearance of the birds,(being more slender and smaller than the Black-bellied Plovers)and the distinct lack of black axillaries noted by the nearby Black-bellied Plovers. The flock landed within 5 minutes and was pursued at a closer viewing range by walking into the corn stubble field obtained by an opening in the fenceline,mainly for identification to species. Upon closer observations up to 3 golden plovers were viewed in the flock of Black-bellied Plovers with several Short-billed Dowitchers and up to 4 Long-billed Dowitchers. Two of the golden plovers were in near full breeding plumage and showed characteristics of Pacific Golden Plovers,going by the short primary projection,white extending down the sides,relatively large,thick bill(being similar in structure to the nearby Black-bellied Plovers),partially white-spotted black belly contrasting to the freckled white undertail coverts(unlike the clear white undertail coverts of the nearby breeding plumaged Black-bellied Plovers),and by the cream-colored supercillium that extended down onto the neck and faded to white. This feature was very bright and noticeable only from viewing the birds within the corn stubble field,but the third bird was far less as bright in tone,lacking a distinct black belly and overall golden coloration on the mantle. The two bright individuals along with the less distinct duller Pacific Golden Plovers were approached within a range of approximately 100 feet,although the entire flock was quite nervous and cautious. We had checked and rechecked this location many times since shorebirds have been observed at this location recently,but never saw these birds,despite the recent sights of golden plovers unless they were obscured by corn stubble or the many undulations within the actual field and it is possible these could be different birds than others have observed. Amongst the flock of breeding plumaged Black-bellied Plovers were at least 2 indivuals that did show a distinctive "golden" appearance on the mantle from the immediate road, which were probably females,but at closer viewing the birds just appeared to show some brown mixed in with white and black on the mantle and crown,which could still confuse some birders and there was at least 2 nonbreeding plumaged Black-bellied Plovers in the flock,as well. Overall we remained very skeptical of all the recent golden plovers sighting due to the normally rare spring migrant unlike in the fall,but our observations today confirmed that they may be more common in spring than people think or may just go overlooked. The entire observations were nearly 15 minutes,but due to the constant stiff westerly winds viewing conditions continued to decrease until we left the location at 3:15pm. Perhaps others with enough effort and patience we relocate the Pacific Golden Plovers,if they remain.

Our second main highlight of the day was a pair of Red-necked Phalaropes in the flooded area at the western end of Wenzel Slough Rd. and east of the Keys Rd. intersection,which apparently came in overnight. We have been checking this location on every visit to the area and encounter different numbers or species of shorebirds each time. We checked the location upon our drive home at 3:30pm and the Red-necked Phalaropes were still present along with Western and Least Sandpipers and at least 3 Dunlin. This is the same location that hosted a male Garganey in late April 1991 among other notable species in past years. Good numbers of both Western and Least Sandpipers persist along Wenzel Slough Rd. and the Brady Loop Rd. complex.A list of other notable highlights for the day included the following:

Greater White-fronted Goose
2 along the western portion Brady Loop Rd.

Cinnamon Teal
4 at the Nisqually NWR

Turkey Vulture
17 observed at the Brady Loop Rd. complex
3 along Hwy.12 at Elma
5 along Hwy.12 at Schouweiler Rd.(west of Elma)

Osprey
1 along the eastern portion of Brady Loop Rd.

Am.Kestrel
1 male along Brady Loop Rd.
1 female along Foster Rd.

Merlin
1 along Wenzel Slough Rd.

Black-bellied Plover
23 along Foster Rd.
19 along the eastern portion of Brady Loop Rd.

Semipalmated Plover
8 along Foster Rd.

Greater Yellowlegs
12+ along Foster Rd.

Lesser Yellowlegs
12 along Foster Rd.

Whimbrel
15 along the eastern portion of Brady Loop Rd.

Short-billed Dowitcher
105+ along Foster Rd.

Band-tailed Pigeon
300+ along Wenzel Slough/Keys Rd. near Satsop

Vaux's Swift
15+ at the Nisqually NWR
5 along Foster Rd.

Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 flying along S.R.8 east of Elma

Hairy Woodpecker
1 along Keys Rd. at the Wenzel Slough intersection

Purple Martin
2 over the Nisqually NWR west parking lot(with large numbers of swallows)

Northern Rough-winged Swallow
1 along Wenzel Slough Rd.

Warbling Vireo(heard only)
1 at the Nisqually NWR

Yellow Warbler
3 at the Nisqually NWR
1 flying along S.R.8 near Summit Lake

Wilson's Warbler
4 at the Nisqually NWR


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net