Tweets,

I didn't walk Nisqually Thursday like I usually do, but I did lead a walk as
part of the refuge program Saturday morning. 11 of us walked from 8:00 to
about 12:15. We covered the boardwalk and out to the Ring Dike and back. It was
overcast and had just stopped raining when we started and we finished under
partly cloudy skies.

The refuge was pretty quiet but we did manage to see 35 species. Arguably the
best spot of the day was the overlook at the Visitor Center. We had all five
SWALLOWS there and also had an AMERICAN BITTERN fly out over the marsh. With
ROBINS, SONG SPARROWS, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, and STARLINGS we had almost 1/3
of our total species count there.

We did see PIED-BILLED GREBE and WOOD DUCKS on the pond out toward the Twin
Barns and CEDAR WAXWINGS and WILLOW FLYCATCHERS were everywhere. Warblers were
pretty scarce in the cool, damp weather with the exception of COMMON
YELLOWTHROAT.

Two good finds occurred as we returned to the parking lot along the Nisqually
River. We had a TURKEY VULTURE fly over the riparian area inside the
boardwalk and an OSPREY flew over the trees just in front of the Visitor Center. Not a
bad bird to end the day on.

The TV & OSPREY make 126 species for the year.

Until Thursday.


Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at aol.com
Lacey, WA
360-459-1499

"We were few and they were many, now we are many and they are few."
Confucius