Tweets,

Eight of us enjoyed a leisurely walk around Nisqually Wildlife Refuge
yesterday in bright sun and warm temperatures. My greatest fear was that the birds
would be hunkered down in the shadow, but I was wrong.

There is still very little water and lots of long grass, so few waterfowl and
poor views of the ones you can see. This is the driest I've ever seen the
refuge at this time of year.

In spite of the dry conditions we did manage to see a couple of AMERICAN
BITTERN. One flew into the slough just past what used to be the pond across from
the parking lot as we headed out to McAllister Creek and we had two fly by as
we walked back toward the Visitor Center. There were MARSH WREN and COMMON
YELLOWTHROAT all along the trail to McAllister Creek and we heard a VIRGINIA RAIL
in the marsh out toward McAllister Creek. We did see WOOD DUCK, MALLARD &
COMMON MERGANSERS with young and saw 5 BLUE-WINGED TEAL, a male on the slough
where the BITTERN flew in and 2 pair at the Ring Dike.

CEDAR WAXWINGS, ROBIN, STARLING and SWAINSON'S THRUSH were working the
elderberry along the Nisqually River side and BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE were everywhere.

That BULLOCK'S ORIOLE finally showed itself. It was behind the Visitor Center
as we started down the boardwalk toward the Twin Barns. We also had four
swallows, missing only the NORTHERN ROUGH WINGED.

Mammals sighted included a BLACK-TAILED DEER with spotted fawn and a NUTRIA
at the photo blind on the Ring Dike.

We had a total of 46 species with the BULLOCK'S ORIOLE being the only new
species for the year, giving us a year total of 111.

Until next Thursday at 8:15.....


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