Greetings Tweeters,
I spent a couple of hours at Nisqually yesterday morning. It was generally
pretty quiet, there is still a lot of snow around. It was fun to see all of
the mammal tracks in the snow. Considering how infrequently I come across
mammals here, the number of tracks was remarkable. Coyote, mink, raccoon,
possibly weasel, and a few rodents were represented. Its no doubt a busy
place when the lights go out.
As far as birds go, numbers were down from the pre-snow conditions,
especially waterfowl as much of the water was still frozen over. The most
interesting birds included: NORTHERN SHRIKE (1 adult continues south of the
Cross-over/ McAllister Creek Trail), 3 AMERICAN BITTERN (along the same
strech of trail), 1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (near the twin barns). According to
refuge personnel, Short-eared Owls (up to 3) are still being reported from
the twin barns viewing platform, and at least 1 immature Northern Shrike is
out along the dike trail on the closed portion along McAllister Creek. I
checked out the usual goose haunts as well (including south of I-5) with no
sign of the Ross's. Perhaps they have moved on, the numbers of Canada Geese
was way down from the time of the CBC.
My travels also included a brief stop at Luhr Beach. The most notable
species were EARED GREBE (6-7), and large numbers of BRANT well offshore. A
HERMIT THRUSH was also in the area. They seem to be more common than usual,
or at least more conspicuous in the lowlands right now.
Good Birding,

Bill Shelmerdine, Olympia
georn1 at hotmail.com

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