Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded a portion of the Nisqually NWR,then a fairly extensive check made at Luhr Beach during outgoing tide between 12:45pm-3:15pm. Conditions were quite slow at the Nisqually NWR with few passerines and migrants noted with greater diversity encountered at Luhr Beach with very calm conditions,despite fairly heavy boat traffic. Our main highlight of the day was Forster's Tern observed approximately 45 yards off Luhr Beach,as it foraged fairly slowly over Nisqually Reach. The bird overall was much paler overall than several Common Terns noted that flew further offshore and showed very little contrast between underparts/upperparts with a very obvious black ear patch and black edging noted only along the outer tail feathers of the deeply forked tail. The bird flew seemingly slower than more rapidly flying Common Terns,but the main separating features consisted of plumage differences between the two species. The Forster's Tern only a hint of dark tones along the trailing edge of the outer primaries,as noted in good lighting conditions and the bird's very pale upperwings and back were very pale,soft gray being much less contrasting than in Common Tern. The Forster's Tern also showed a lack of any black on the nape and a consistent black ear patch along with a darkish bill. The bird seemed very clean and also showed NO black areas along the wrists of the upperwing,as well as dusky areas on the nape,so the bird appeared to be an adult in winter plumage. After watching the bird for 5 minutes the bird continued further offshore and joined a large flock of Common Terns,as they all continued towards the mouth of the Nisqually River.

Our shorebird highlight of the day was a single Black Turnstone observed from Luhr Beach at the Nisqually Delta,as it foraged mainly alone along the muddy edges below vast outcroppings of Salicornia beds. The bird was again observed further away along extensive muddy areas on the Pierce Co. side of the Nisqually River. The most abundant waterbird species off Luhr Beach continued with Double-crested Cormorants and Common Mergansers with good numbers of both species noted,primarily from the mouth of the Nisqually River.Increasing numbers of Ring-billed Gulls were also encountered off Luhr Beach.

We began the day at the Nisqually NWR at 11am and spent our time there until 12:30pm walking the McAllister Creek trail to McAllister Creek,then back to the main parking lot and continuing north to the Twin Barns. Although we didn't encounter any main highlights we had a good assortment of species including the following:

1 Pied-billed Grebe
1 Am.Bittern
1 immature Green Heron
3 Turkey Vulture(observed circling together over I-5 from the McAllister Creek trail)
1 Osprey
3 Northern Harriers
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
2 Cooper's Hawks
2 Red-tailed Hawks(including 1 adult dark-morph bird from the Twin Barns)
1 Greater Yellowlegs
32 Common Terns(observed flying tightly together over the tall Black Cottonwood trees over the Nisqually River continuing north towards the Nisqually Reach)
1 Mourning Dove
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Common Raven
1 Chestnut-backed Chickadee
25 Cedar Waxwings
1 Orange-crowned Warbler
1 Western Tanager
2 Lincoln's Sparrows
30+ Purple Finches


Next, at Luhr Beach we actively watched fishermen and other boaters coming and going from the boat launch,as much of our attention was made from the covered dock with the best conditions. Additional highlights noted from this location included the following:

4 Common Loons
13 Horned Grebes
8 Red-necked Grebes
1 Greater Scaup
2 Surf Scoters
4 White-winged Scoters
5 Bald Eagles
3 Sanderlings(observed flying low in off the Nisqually Reach towards the Nisqually Delta)
300+ Western Sandpipers
1 Least Sandpiper
2 Red-necked Phalaropes
3 Parasitic Jaegers(2 crisp adults and 1 juvenile bird flying in from the northeast,then pursuing and harassing a large Common Tern flock,then finally continuing west over the Nisqually Reach)
1 Bonaparte's Gull
4 Mew Gulls
2 Western Gulls
10 Caspian Terns
145+ Common Terns
7 Pigeon Guillemots
1 Marbled Murrelet
18 Rhinoceros Auklets


Good birding,

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