Tweeters, Steve Nord and I birded a bit of Nisqually this morning before the
hordes arrived. Sparrows really seemed to have arrived in numbers and we
also saw a few decent flocks of migrants. Waterfowl numbers are growing at
Luhr and even within the refuge where there is any water (they're beginning
the flooding along the trail to McAllister so we may yet get some of those
late shorebirds - Ruff/Sharp-tailed anyone?). The only complaint came from
the two birds that "got away". The first was a flyover shorebird sp. with a
Wilson's Snipe. I thought it was one of the Golden-Plovers, but we were
left without any real answers to our many questions due to the bird never
stopping. The other lost bird came while watching two empids chase each
other repeatedly. One was definitely a Hammond's, but the other was never
seen fully and didn't seem to have the primary projection length of the
Hammond's (for what that's worth). It was probably Hammond's as well, but
we couldn't rule out Dusky since we never got a definitive look.

Birds of note:
G/W Teal
N. Pintail
2 N. Harrier
1 Virginia Rail
A. Coot
1 Wilson's Snipe
R/B Sapsucker (seen twice in the last week along the boardwalk to the Twin
Barns)
All the expected woodpeckers were seen/heard
1 Hammond's Flycatcher
Barn Swallow
R/C Kinglet
1 Varied Thrush (our first lowland record of the fall)
10 American Pipit
150+ Cedar Waxwing (amazing flocks of youngsters at McAllister Creek
overlook)
1 Yellow Warbler
25+ Yellow-rumped Warbler
5 "Sooty" Fox Sparrow
10 Lincoln's Sparrow
Purple Finch (good numbers this year)
Evening Grosbeak

Later I checked Luhr Beach at quite a low tide (rising) and had a few
interesting sightings. Best birds were the 50+ Common Loons grouped up in
small clumps of 8-10 birds. Definitely the largest number I've seen in
South Sound in one place. Also good numbers of Wigeon showing up. You know
there wasn't much of note when I actually started sorting through gulls.

50+ Common Loon
25 Horned Grebe
R/N Grebe
31 Western Grebe
B/B Plover (heard)
2 Mew Gull
1 Western Gull (at least it was more Western than G/Winged, unlike most of
the others. There are some UGLY gulls here lately)
1 California Gull
10 B/T Pigeon

North Point/KGY radio in downtown Olympia (East Bay area) at high tide had:
1 BROWN PELICAN (lingering bird from July, I wonder if this is the same bird
as the Luhr sighting?)
Brandt's Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
35 G/W Teal
1 Western Grebe (sadly one of the best birds of the day; this is now a
"good" bird anywhere near East Bay though there used to be hundreds -if not
thousands)
1 Peregrine Falcon
5 California Gull

Jason Paulios
Jpaulios at earthlink.net
Olympia, WA