Subject: Fw: Pink-footed Goose at Brady Loop Rd.
Date: Feb 22 19:15:47 2004
From: Ruth Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net



----- Original Message -----
From: Ruth Sullivan
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 7:07 PM
Subject: Pink-footed Goose at Brady Loop Rd.


Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I ventured back over to Brady Loop Rd.,where we immediately located the Pink-footed Goose at 11am in the same location than observed yesterday afternoon along Brady Loop Rd. just west of Foster Rd. The bird was foraging in close association with a single immature Greater White-fronted Goose,in which we observed the bird with Joe Higbee,who was already watching the bird as we arrived. The bird remained at this location for a relative time,but was hidden at times due to the undulations on the ground with small numbers of Canada Geese and both species of swans. We were joined by Dave Hayden and Sherry Thiel,who both observed the Pink-footed Goose,as the bird hopped around on an injured foot/leg,but always kept close to the Greater White-fronted Goose. The Pink-footed Goose remained at this location until it was flushed up along with all the other geese due to people flying their remote control airplanes,but that didn't seem to disturb the swans. We followed the Pink-footed Goose and the other geese,as the continued to the east,before they dropped into an unknown field and we never relocated the bird during our visit.We all remained at this location until around 1:15pm and observed several other key highlights including the Golden Eagle,which made a fly over heading in the direction of the forested hillside above the Satsop River to the north. The Golden Eagle was again spotted a short while afterwards perched in a large deciduous tree sitting next to an immature Bald Eagle east of Foster Rd.,where we drove back along Foster Rd. to obtain better views of the bird. Eventually the Golden Eagle lifted and flew alone in our direction then made a very close fly-by heading west then north to the forested hillside,as we stood along Foster Rd and obtained excellent views of the bird. This is our third sighting of this bird in 2 weeks,so perhaps other birders will get a chance to see it along the Brady Loop Rd. complex. A few other species of note that were encountered during our visit to a portion of Brady Loop Rd. included the following:

5 Northern Harriers
1 adult Cooper's Hawk
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
2 Rough-legged Hawks
1 Am.Kestrel
1 Merlin
1 adult Peregrine Falcon
2 Dunlin
5+ Tree Swallows
2 Barn Swallows

Other notable highlights observed in the Elma-Brady area,specifically along Hwy.12 included the following species:

Am.Kestrel
1 along Hwy.12 at Schouweiler Rd.
1 along Hwy.12 at Elma

Western Scrub Jay
1 along Hwy.12 at Elma
1 along Hwy.12 at Brady

After 1:30pm we all drove to the Nisqually NWR after hearing about the "possible" Broad-winged Hawk,where we arrived around 3pm and remained until 5pm. We walked the McAllister Creek trail from the headquarters,then a walk made to the Twin Barns,but were unable to locate this very rare hawk. We did however note considerable fewer raptors than yesterday afternoon,specifically Red-tailed Hawks and birding in general was quite slow. We also heard a second hand report of a Say's Phoebe that was reported during the morning that was observed near the Twin Barns,but we were unable to locate that bird either.We did manage to locate a few highlights that made the afternoon worthwhile. Highlights that we observed during our visit included the following:

1 Am.Bittern(observed along the McAllister Creek trail from the main parking lot)
200+ "Black"Brant observed from the Twin Barns in flight over the Nisqually Delta(presumably flushed by a Bald Eagle,etc)
14 Ring-necked Ducks
3 male Eurasian Wigeon
6 Northern Harriers
10 Red-tailed Hawks(including 1 adult dark-morph bird observed from the Twin Barns)
1 Rough-legged Hawk
1 adult Peregrine Falcon
1 Black-bellied Plover
1 Short-eared Owl(observed hunting from the Twin Barns overlook,then looking to the north from the main parking lot perched atop a bush)
1 Tree Swallow
3 Northern Shrikes
1 partial albino Song Sparrow(observed along the boardwalk between the Twin Barns andf the main parking lot)
1 Purple Finch


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Tacoma,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net