Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I enjoyed a warm afternoon at the Nisqually NWR between 1pm-4pm. Our main highlight was an adult Golden Eagle observed along the McAllister Creek trail,as it soared overhead 2 times as skies began to clear before continuing eastward toward the Nisqually Cut-off Rd. This individual was very crisp and was our first personal record for Thurston Co.! Overall conditions seemed very good for soaring raptors,but the only other species encountered were 2 adult Bald Eagles,4 Turkey Vultures, and 3 Red-tailed Hawks. We primarily walked the McAllister Creek trail,as well as the Nisqually River Loop trail from the main parking lot,then made a thorough check from the Twin Barns overlook platform. Good numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers were most abundant where stands of trees and shrubbery persisted and included both subspecies. Away from the Golden Eagle our other highlight of the afternoon was 3 Blue-winged Teal(2 males,1 female)observed from two locations. A pair of Blue-winged Teal were noted together while scoping through the vast waterfowl flocks along the McAllister Creek trail(north of the trail just before the first patch of willow shrubbery). The other male was noted alone in the flooded area from the Twin Barns overlook platform. These were our personal first of the season but add to other recent reports of Blue-winged Teal in western WA.

Other highlight noted during our afternoon visit to the Nisqually NWR include the following:

1 Pied-billed Grebe
1 Am.Bittern
1 Green Heron
7 Greater White-fronted Geese
47 Cackling Geese
4 pairs of Wood Duck
13 Cinnamon Teal
2 Eurasian Wigeons(1 male,1 female)
1 Hooded Merganser
1 Sora(heard only along the McAllister Creek trail)
4 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Lesser Yellowlegs
1 Whimbrel(observed flying low over of the Twin Barns overlook platform,then continuing north towards the Nisqually Delta)
2 Western Sandpipers
8 Least Sandpipers
55+ Dunlin
1 Band-tailed Pigeon
4 Great Horned Owls(1 adult with 3 immature birds at the same location than other observers have reported southeast of the Twin Barns)
1 Barn Owl(adult bird previously reported by other observers roosting in a dead snag along the Nisqually River Loop trail boardwalk)
7 Rufous Hummingbirds
2 Brown Creepers
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
5 Orange-crowned Warblers
1 Lincoln's Sparrow
7 Golden-crowned Sparrows


Mammal highlights:

2 Coyotes(observed together in overgrown fields north of the Twin Barns overlook platform)
1 Black-tailed Deer

Of additional note we observed our first California Darner of the season,which is quite late for this dragonfly species considering they normally show up in early April.



Good birding,

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