Tweets,

A gorgeous day at Nisqually yesterday! As I started the walk at 8:15 the fog
was just burning off and bright sun shone for the rest of the day. Spring was
clearly in the air. Birds were singing madly, setting up territories...and the
school kids were out in force.

The day got off to a great start with an EURASIAN WIGEON in a flock of
AMERICAN WIGEON on the pond just across from the parking lot. There were also
several KILLDEER in the area and the first SAVANNAH SPARROW of the year in the bush
at the start of the trail to McAllister Creek. On the way out to McAllister
Creek there were several COMMON YELLOWTHROAT and MARSH WRENS. At McAllister
Creek there were 2 GREATER YELLOWLEGS, 3 pair of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, and
BARROWS GOLDENEYE. On the way back to the parking lot I had a good view of an
AMERICAN BITTERN.

There were a pair of HOODED MERGANSERS on the pond behind the visitor's
center, and COMMON MERGANSERS were present on the Nisqually River, as were COMMON
GOLDENEYE. RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS abounded along the Nisqually River trail and
there were several pair of WOOD DUCKS in the slough on that side of the refuge.

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS seemed to be everywhere in the trees and TREE SWALLOWS
and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS were checking out every hole in every tree I could
see. There appeared to be some dispute over who was going to nest in which
hole.

Raptor numbers were good, with RED-TAILED HAWKS and NORTHERN HARRIERS leading
the way. I also had a BALD EAGLE fly by, spooking every thing into the air
off the ponds near the parking lot, as well as a PEREGRINE FALCON and a COOPER'S
HAWK near the Nisqually River.

Animals sighted were 4 deer, a harbor seal in the Nisqually River and 2 river
otters trotting down the Nisqually River Trail.

50 species for the day and a total of 77 for the year. New for the year were
the RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, and SAVANNAH SPARROW.


Phil Kelley
Lacey, WA
360-459-1499
scrbjay at aol.com

"We were few and they were plenty. Now we are plenty and they
are few."
Confucius
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20040402/7db81337/attachment.htm