Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I again birded the Nisqually NWR along with a few other nearby locations including Luhr Beach and along Orion Drive NE near Lacey. We again relocated the Semipalmated Sandpiper at the same location as previously reported by us on Tweeters along the McAllister Creek trail at the Nisqually NWR between 10:15am-11:30am. The bird was foraging loosely with up to 10 Western Sandpipers and 2 Least Sandpipers for good comparisons in the shorebird habitat east of the trail,but foraged alone too and was observed by several other birders during our visit through spotting scopes with distant photographs of the bird that were obtained.The Semipalmated Sandpiper was a highlight for everyone and perhaps others will get a chance to see this exceptional spring migrant. Our main highlight away from the Semipalmated sandpiper was a single singing Willow Flycatcher observed north of the McAllister Creek trail,so perhaps others will be reported in western WA in upcoming days. As we watched the Semipalmated Sandpiper and other shorebirds the skies began to clear and temperatures warmed up,so we decided to walk back and check again along the beginning portion of the McAllister Creek trail,then a walk made to the Twin Barn overlook before driving to Luhr Beach during incoming tide. A list of noteworthy species observed at the Nisqually NWR during our visit include the following:

1 Am.Bittern
1 pair of Wood Ducks with 6 young
2 male Green-winged Teal
7 Blue-winged Teal(6 males,1 female)
9 male Cinnamon Teal
1 male Northern Shoveler
6 young Hooded Mergansers(with no female present,but she may have been hiding,etc)
1 female Common Merganser
1 Osprey
1 Northern Harrier
4 Greater Yellowlegs(including the remaining injured bird along the McAllister Creek trail)
5 Spotted Sandpipers
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper
10 Western Sandpipers
2 Least Sandpipers
13 Pectoral Sandpipers(6 birds along the McAllister Creek trail west of the parking lot with 7 additional birds observed south of the photo blind at the same location as the Semipalmated Sandpiper)
1 Dunlin
10 Long-billed Dowitchers
1 pair of Wilson's Phalarope(observed along the gravel trail to the Twin Barns from the main parking lot)
1 Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 Willow Flycatcher
1 male Purple Martin
9+ Northern Rough-winged Swallows
1 Swainson's Thrush
24 Cedar Waxwings
9 Warbling Vireos
27+ Yellow Warblers
1 Wilson's Warbler
5+ Western Tanagers(heard singing only along the McAllister Creek trail)
8 Black-headed Grosbeaks
1 Lincoln's Sparrow(1 fairly late individual along a brushy greenbelt south of the main parking lot)
5 Purple Finches
5 Evening Grosbeaks

Mammals:

1 Muskrat


We arrived at Luhr Beach at 1pm during incoming tide with a careful scoping of Nisqually Reach was made,as well as on the Nisqually Delta. A list of notable species included the following:

1 Pacific Loon
2 Common Loons
2 Horned Grebes
1 Western Grebe
2 Surf Scoters
1 female Bufflehead
1 pair of Red-breasted Mergansers
3 Caspian Terns
8 Pigeon Guillemots
2 Marbled Murrelets
4 Purple Martins

Before heading home we made a stop along Orion Drive NE(accessed off of Meridian Rd. NE)that was fairly productive,despite the time of day with the following highlight species encountered:

4 Mourning Doves
1 Great Horned Owl
3 Olive-sided Flycatchers
1 Western Wood Pewee
2 House Wrens(with one individual bird at a presumed nestsite)
6 Orange-crowned Warblers
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 MacGillivray's Warbler
7 Western Tanagers


Good birding,

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