Hi Tweeters,



We, my husband and I, finally made it down to Nisqually after a long absence

Despite showing up during a big festival we still had a very enjoyable and

productive day of birding.



If you are out there: thanks to the gentelman originally from Vermont who

gave us so many wonderful pointers on raptor identification and to the

gentleman with the scope that after we pointed out a shorebird to him, he

focused in on it and let us have a look. And to Ruth Sulivan, for all your

reports that inspired us to get back down that way again!



Here is a list of the birds we managed to ID.



Canadian Geese

Greater White-fronted Goose (chasing the mallards)

Mallards

American Crows( cheering on the goose)

Yellow-rumped Warblers (that actually held still for me!)

Ceder Waxwings (by far the most abundant bird of the day)

Peregrine Falcoln

Great Blue Herons (one startled by some canoers, which in turn startled the

Kingfishers, over and over down the creek)

Kingfishers

Mourning Doves

Spotted Towhee

Northern Harriers (two rough housing in flight)

Bewick's Wren

Killdeer

Sharp-shinned Hawk ( with a very large ball of feathery fluff in it's

talons)

Marbled Godwit ( there was just one, but oh was it lovely!)

American Wigeons

Pied-billed Grebe

Red-tailed Hawk

Ring-billed Gulls (lots and lots)

Northern Shovelers

House Finch

Red-shafted Northern Flicker

Dark-eyed Junco ( a particular light hood on this one)

Starlings

Red-breasted Merganser

Double-crested Cormorants

American Bittern ( this was the treat of the day for me...I just plopped my

tush on the ground and watched for at least twenty minutes. it was only

15-20 feet away and we watched it hunt...when it struck, it came up with

only a leaf speared on it's beak...poor thing.)



Also sighted were three Dowatchers...unfortunately I just can't say which

kind. They were not making any noise to help out either. Anyone have

pointers on this?

Also many sparrows stumped me once again...any pointers on sparrow

identification tricks would also be appreciated.



We took our time and had a great day of it. Started around 12:30 and left

around 7:00.



Maurie Kirschner

Seattle, WA

maurieckirschnerATcomcast.net