Hey Tweeters,

Ryan Shaw, Jason Paulios, and I gathered at 2:00 yesterday morning to do
a county big day. The weather was great and we ended up with 133 total
species, more than any of us would have guessed. This beat the record we
set last May 9th of 123. We owled in the Capitol Forest for several hours
until daybreak, finding two Western Screech-, one Saw-whet which attacked my
head as I called for it, and a Great Horned or two. We couldn't find any
pygmy-owls at sunrise this year, as we did last.

The day birds began singing at about 5:00am. Hermit Warblers were
everywhere in the higher areas of the road heading towards Capitol Peak; we
easily had 30 singing from the tree tops. As this was on a weekday, the
road was unfortunately blocked by logging equipment up in the area where the
road begins to climb. So we couldn't get up to the Mountain Quail area. On
our way down we heard over six displaying Blue Grouse, and saw one female
also. Made us wonder how we missed this species last spring.

Other places along our route were Mud Bay, Black Lake Meadows, Tumwater
Falls (still no dipper), Tolmie State Park, Luhr Beach, Nisqually NWR, and
ended the day at Weir Prairie at about 6:00pm. Some of our misses were as
interesting as our finds; no Horned Grebe, Turkey Vulture, or Brewer's
Blackbird. Still, not a bad day.

Cheers and good birding,
--
Charlie Wright
Sumner, WA
charlie at birdwright.com

The species list - asterisk marks birds we missed on this route last year.

Pacific Loon - 3 at Tolmie State Park
Common Loon - scattered at Tolmie/Luhr Beach/Nisqually NWR
Red-necked Grebe* - 5 at Tolmie
Eared Grebe* - several at Luhr; no Horned!
Pied-billed Grebe - 1 at Nisqually, northwest corner ponds
Western Grebe - 6 at Tolmie
Double-crested Cormorant - numerous Mud Bay/Tolmie/Luhr/Nisqually
Pelagic Cormorant* - about 10 off Luhr Beach
Great Blue Heron - widespread
Green Heron - 1 flushed along Nisqually River trail
Canada Goose - Nisqually NWR, including 1 late "Cackling"
Wood Duck - 1 in ponds along boardwalk near Nisqually HQ
Mallard - widespread
Gadwall - 2 pairs at Nisqually
Northern Pintail - quite a few; Luhr/Nisqually
American Wigeon - flocks at Luhr; 1 at Nisqually
Northern Shoveler - paired up at Nisqually
Cinnamon Teal - 2 at Nisqually
Blue-winged Teal* - 4 at Nisqually
Green-winged Teal* - 10 or so at Nisqually
Greater Scaup - 3 at Capitol Lake; many at Luhr
Lesser Scaup* - several at Luhr
Harlequin Duck* - male still at Luhr
Surf Scoter - a few flocks; Tolmie/Luhr
White-winged Scoter - 15 or so at Luhr
Common Goldeneye* - quite a few at Luhr
Bufflehead - lingering at Mud Bay and
Hooded Merganser - a few pairs at Nisqually
Common Merganser - 2 at Mud Bay; 1 at McAllister Ck mouth
Red-breasted Merganser* - 8 at McAllister Ck mouth
Sharp-shinned Hawk* - 1 at Nisqually, outer loop
Red-tailed Hawk - Nisqually/Weir
Bald Eagle - on the Nisqually flats
Osprey - 2 at Luhr Beach
American Kestrel - male at Weir Prairie
Northern Bobwhite - 2 calling at Weir
California Quail - 1 at Nisqually
Ring-necked Pheasant - 2 at Nisqually
Blue Grouse* - 7 in Capitol Forest; 1 at Weir Prairie
American Coot* - 1 at Nisqually
Virginia Rail - just 1 calling at Nisqually
Sora - over 15 calling all over Nisqually's marshes!
Black-bellied Plover* - 1 on the Nisqually flats off Luhr Beach
Semipalmated Plover* - 2 on Nisqually flats from Luhr Beach
Killdeer - fairly widespread
Greater Yellowlegs* - 3 at Nisqually, outer dike
Lesser Yellowlegs* - 1 at Nisqually, outer dike
Whimbrel* - about 6 on Nisqually flats, from Luhr and Nisqually NWR
Dunlin - flocks at Luhr Beach
Western Sandpiper - several at Luhr
Least Sandpiper - a few at Nisqually
Bonaparte's Gull* - many on Nisqually flats
Ring-billed Gull* - ditto
Glaucous-winged Gull - widespread and common
Caspian Tern - numbers on the Nisqually reach
Common Murre - 2 at Tolmie
Pigeon Guillemot - many at Tolmie
Rhinoceros Auklet - about 10 at Tolmie
Mourning Dove - one at Nisqually
Rock Dove - common
Band-tailed Pigeon - common in Capitol Forest, etc
Great Horned Owl - Capitol Forest
Northern Saw-whet Owl - 1 did a bee-line for my head in Capitol Forest
Western Screech-Owl - 2 in Capitol Forest
Vaux's Swift - huge numbers near Tumwater Heritage Park, must have a chimney
roost nearby
Rufous Hummingbird - widespread
Belted Kingfisher - Nisqually
Downy Woodpecker - Black Lake Meadows
Hairy Woodpecker - 2 in Capitol Forest, 1 at Nisqually, 1 at Weir
Red-breasted Sapsucker - 2 at lower part of Rock Candy Mt Rd; 1 at Weir
Northern Flicker - widespread
Olive-sided Flycatcher* - early individual singing at Weir Prairie
Pacific-slope Flycatcher - Capitol Forest and elsewhere
Hammond's Flycatcher - 1 in Capitol Forest; 1 at Weir
Hutton's Vireo - many in Capitol Forest
Warbling Vireo - just a couple; Luhr Beach, Nisqually
Cassin's Vireo - Weir Prairie
Steller's Jay - all over
Western Scrub-Jay - residential Tumwater
Gray Jay - a few in lower areas of Capitol Forest
American Crow - widespread
Common Raven - Capitol Forest/Weir
Purple Martin - Luhr/Nisqually/Weir Prairie
Violet-green Swallow - various
Tree Swallow - common
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - many; Tumwater/Nisqually
Barn Swallow - fairly widespread
Cliff Swallow - Luhr Beach, etc
Black-capped Chickadee - numerous
Chestnut-backed Chickadee - Capitol Forest
Bushtit* - Black Lake Meadows/Nisqually; one of our big misses last year
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Capitol Forest and Weir Prairie
Brown Creeper - Capitol Forest
Bewick's Wren - numerous
House Wren - several singing at Weir
Winter Wren - abundant in Capitol Forest
Marsh Wren - Nisqually
Golden-crowned Kinglet - Capitol Forest
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - just 1 at Black Lake Meadows
American Robin - no lack of these
Varied Thrush - many in Capitol Forest
Swainson's Thrush* - my first of year along Nisqually River boardwalk
Hermit Thrush - lots in Capitol Forest
European Starling - not in the Capitol Forest at least
Cedar Waxwing* - 1 at Tumwater Heritage Park; unbelievably my first of the
year
Yellow Warbler - Tumwater Heritage Park, Nisqually, and other spots
Yellow-rumped Warbler - singing in Capitol Forest; migrating elsewhere
Black-throated Gray Warbler - lower part of Rock Candy Mt Rd/Tolmie
Hermit Warbler - upwards of 35 in Capitol Forest
Townsend's Warbler - low part of Rock Candy Mt Rd
Orange-crowned Warbler - common in open areas
MacGillivray's Warbler - 3 in Capitol Forest
Wilson's Warbler - very common now
Common Yellowthroat - marshes, and in a clear-cut in the Capitol Forest
Western Tanager - Tumwater Heritage Park; Nisqually
Black-headed Grosbeak - Tumwater Heritage Park
Spotted Towhee - lowlands
Chipping Sparrow* - 1 calling at Weir
Savannah Sparrow - fields
Vesper Sparrow - at least 4 singing at Weir Prairie; 1 seen very well
White-crowned Sparrow - lots
Golden-crowned Sparrow - good numbers
Dark-eyed Junco - mainly in Capitol Forest
Song Sparrow - everywhere
Brown-headed Cowbird* - all too common, how could we have missed them last
year?
Red-winged Blackbird - various
Evening Grosbeak - surprisingly widespread and common this spring
Purple Finch - Capitol Forest/Black Lake Meadows
House Finch - rather common
Pine Siskin - Capitol Forest
American Goldfinch - widespread
Red Crossbill - Tolmie
House Sparrow - not uncommon