Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded Mother's Day in Thurston Co. leisurely checking a few birding locations beginning along Hogum Bay Rd. NE near the "old" Lacey Clear-cut then onto the Capital Forest accessed of S.R.8 along Rock Candy Mtn. Rd. to Capitol Peak,then a short evening visit made at the Nisqually NWR on our way home,where we were joined by Dave Hayden. Overall the day was quite slow birding wise even after the low clouds burned off to mostly sunny skies. Our main highlights of the day occurred within a lengthy visit to the Capitol Forest,as we drove the dirt,gravel road to the base of Capitol Peak approximately 10.5 miles from S.R.8. We located up to 25 "pure" Hermit Warblers, of which up to 5 birds were observed well with enough patience after 7 miles of driving on our way to Capitol Peak. This sighting goes after a greater numbers of birds were encountered by the Ryan Shaw,Charlie Wright and Jason Paulios on their Thurston Co. Big Day on the 8th of May. All the birds that we observed well were noted within the upper canopy range of conifer trees and were noted actively singing and "flycatching" from several limbs in good view along the immediate road. The exact area was near logging equipment that was noted along the side of the narrow road going up and coming down from Capital Peak and we were unable to locate or hear any Townsend's or Black-throated Gray Warbler during our entire visit to the Capitol Forest. Other than Wilson's Warblers the Hermit Warblers were the most abundant songbird noted,although the time of day we visited this area could have kept many birds from actively singing or calling with a visit made earlier during the day such as in the early morning much more worthwhile. We drove as far south to the base of Capitol Peak,as many side logging roads,etc. are noted along the main dirt,gravel road and offer additional birding in the area,especially the road continuing south past Capitol Peak and the road north of Capital Peak,which comes out along Porter Creek and eventually to the town of Porter along Hwy.12 in Grays Harbor Co. The Grays Harbor/Thurston Co. line is about 1 mile west of Capitol Peak,as indicated in the WA DeLorme Atlas and is a great area for additional searches for Hermit Warblers among other forest specialties. Other highlights that we noted during our visit to the Capitol Forest included the following:

8 Turkey Vultures
1 Merlin(observed flying west of Capitol Peak)
7 Blue Grouse(heard only)
2 Gray Jays
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
1 Hermit Thrush
3 Hutton's Vireos(heard only)
4 MacGillivray's Warblers


Our morning visit along Hogum Bay Rd. near the "old" Lacey Clear-cut produced a few species that we didn't encounter at other locations during the day along with other highlights including the following species:

7 Bufflehead
1 Osprey
1 adult Bald Eagle
2 Spotted Sandpipers
1 Pacific-slope Flycatcher
1 MacGillivray's Warbler
5 Chipping Sparrows
3 Purple Finches


On our way home this evening we stopped by the Nisqually NWR,where we met Dave Hayden who joined us, as we walked along the trail out to McAllister Creek to the flooded area on both sides of trail west of west parking lot,then a walk made to the Twin Barns with a return walk along the Nisqually River Loop trail back to the headquarters. Notable highlights included the following:

2 "Cackling"Canada Geese
5 male Blue-winged Teal
3 Cinnamon Teal
1 Northern Shoveler
1 Ring-necked Pheasant
1 Sora
1 Greater Yellowlegs
24 Western Sandpipers
16 Least Sandpipers
1 Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Am.Pipit
1 Warbling Vireo
1 Black-throated Gray Warbler

Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net