Subject: [Tweeters] Yellow Warbler at the Nisqually NWR
Date: Apr 23 17:35:41 2005
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Tweets,

This afternoon my mother and I birded a few hours at the Nisqually NWR between 1pm-3pm by walking the front portion of the McAllister Creek trail,then to the Twin Barns and along the southern maintenance trail(accessed south from the main parking lot). Our main highlight was our personal first Yellow Warbler of the season,which was observed near the end of our visit along the southern maintenance trail,where a singing male was observed in a dense stand of willows. This is the same location than we noted a Yellow Warbler last year on the 25th of April and is possible others will be reported this weekend. Our second highlight during our visit was a MacGillivray's Warbler heard singing twice also along the south maintainace trail,but unfortunately the bird never revaeled itself from the thick cover. This makes one of few records we personally have of MacGillivray's Warbler for the Nisqually NWR,but are encountered in season in surrounding areas. A single crisp adult Black-throated Gray Warbler was noted at this same location earlier in our visit foraging mainly by itself in a dense stand of willow trees with several Yellow-rumped Warblers nearby. Perhaps the cooler weather today resulted in somewhat good passerine movements!

Other highlights noted during our afternoon visit to the Nisqually NWR included the following:

1 pair of Pied-billed Grebes
7 lingering Greater White-fronted Geese
15 Cackling Geese
2 male Wood Ducks
1 pair of Blue-winged Teal
12 Cinnamon Teal
1 female Eurasian Wigeon
2 Ring-necked Ducks
1 Turkey Vulture
3 Bald Eagles
1 Merlin
4 Soras(heard only)
2 Greater Yellowlegs
2 Lesser Yellowlegs
14 Least Sandpipers
1 Wilson's Snipe
2 Band-tailed Pigeons
4 Great Horned Owls(1 adult and 3 immature birds along the boardwalk between the Twin Barns and the Nisqually River)
8 Rufous Hummingbirds
1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
10 Orange-crowned Warblers
1 Lincoln's Sparrow
6 Golden-crowned Sparrows
2 Purple Finches


Good birding,

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