Tweeters,
Here is My first trip report, bear with me as I grow and learn. :)

Today I went to the Nisqually NWR for the first time. It was beautiful.
We walked the Twin Loop trail. and went to the twin barns.
I saw 2 birds I cannot Identify- 1 lookes like a gray sparrow with a song
sparrow pattern and it had white bushy eyeborws,They were really bushy It
reminded me of my father in law. it was very fat and kind of oblong shaped.
It had a band of white near the tail and the tail feathers were not long. I
think the beak was small.
The other one I think might have been a starling- but the feathers on the
top of the head and the fact it looked fluffy makes me wonder. it sat
upright, the feathers on the top of the head went up, it looked kind of
fluffy and it was all black. with a yellow beak that was kind of long I saw
two different sets of this bird, both were bringing food to nests that were
in the trunks of trees.
I also saw several Canadian geese
a wood duck (My first)
tri-colored black birds or red winged black birds- I am not too good at
telling these apart yet.
tree swallows (My first)
barn swalllows
cliff swallows (MY first)
the swallows were fascinating to me, I had a long time to watch them and was
able to use my field guide to tell the difference between the three types. I
have never seen ones before and this opporotunity was a thrill for me. After
watching them for a while I realized I have seen swallows flying over fields
and things before but i had no idea what they were. So I will still count
these as my first.
2 female rufous hummingbirds
2 downey woodpeckers (My first)
male and female common yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
These last few were identified using a combination of the placards on the
trail and my field guides.

It was a great two hours (All the time had) and a perfect first adventure of
what I am sure will be many more to come.

Thank you for being here to let me share my new discoveries with you,

Melissa Nalson
Edmonds
menelson at joimail.net