Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded from the Nisqually NWR to Brady Loop Rd. along with stops made at other locations. Our main highlight of the day was a male Bullock's Oriole at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland near Elma,which seemed slightly early for eastern Grays Harbor Co along with being a personal first for us at this location. Throughout the day we encountered a good assortment of returning and migrant passerines,especially at the Nisqually NWR and the Schouweiler Rd. wetland,but other locations were quite slow probably due to the time of day visited. Shorebird numbers along the Brady Loop Rd. complex were still fairly consistent with our last visit,although numbers were very scattered. The weather was great all day and temperatures warmed up rapidly with areas of fog that quickly burned off during our morning visit to the Nisqually NWR.A list of our main highlights encountered at selected locations and times follows below:

Nisqually NWR,Thurston Co. 8:30am-11:30am

1 pair of Pied-billed Grebes
1 Am.Bittern
7 Greater White-fronted Geese
15 Cackling Geese
1 pair of Wood Duck
1 pair of Blue-winged Teal
15 Cinnamon Teal
1 female Eurasian Wigeon
4 Ring-necked Ducks
2 Hooded Mergansers
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Cooper's Hawk
1 Am.Kestrel
3 Greater Yellowlegs
30+ Least Sandpipers
1 Dunlin
2 Wilson's Snipe
2 Band-tailed Pigeons
1 juvenile Barn Owl(observed stretching it's wings and hopping around within the hole at the same snag location along the Nisqually River Loop trail,as previous observers have reported 1-2 adult birds over the past week)
3 immature Great Horned Owls(observed between the Twin Barns and the Nisqually River)
8 Rufous Hummingbirds
3 Downy Woodpeckers
4 Red-breasted Sapsuckers
2 Pileated Woodpeckers
2 Pacific-slope Flycatchers
1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
8 Steller's Jays
1 Chestnut-backed Chickadees
4 Brown Creepers
2 Varied Thrushes
1 Am.Pipit
1 Warbling Vireo
12 Orange-crowned Warblers
3 Yellow Warblers
1 Black-throated Gray Warbler
3 MacGillivray's Warblers
1 Wilson's Warbler
5 Lincoln's Sparrows
8 Golden-crowned Sparrows


Schouweiler Rd. wetland,Grays Harbor Co. 12:15pm-1:15pm

1 pair of Pied-billed Grebes(1 adult bird on a floating nest)
2 Am.Bitterns
2 Ospreys
3 Turkey Vultures
1 Virginia Rail(heard only)
1 Wilson's Snipe
1 Western Scrub Jay
2 Bushtits
1 Cassin's Vireo
4 Warbling Vireos
5 Orange-crowned Warblers
3 Black-throated Gray Warblers
4 Wilson's Warblers
1 Golden-crowned Sparrow
1 Bullock's Oriole


Brady Loop Rd. complex,GH 1:30pm-4pm

25 Cackling Geese
4 Wood Ducks
5 Cinnamon Teal
7 Ring-necked Ducks
1 Greater Scaup
5 Lesser Scaup
1 Ruddy Duck
5 Turkey Vultures
1 Osprey
3 Northern Harriers
3 Am.Kestrels
3 Ring-necked Pheasants
73 Black-bellied Plovers
15 Semipalmated Plovers
45 Greater Yellowlegs
8 Lesser Yellowlegs
11 Whimbrel(observed in a freshly plowed field along the eastern portion of Brady Loop Rd.)
115+ Western Sandpipers
245+ Least Sandpipers
75 Dunlin
52 Short-billed Dowitchers
4 Long-billed Dowitchers
70+ Band-tailed Pigeons
18 Rufous Hummingbirds
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
64 Am.Pipits
1 Black-throated Gray Warbler
4 Lincoln's Sparrows
44 Golden-crowned Sparrows
8 Evening Grosbeaks


Dunlap Rd.,GH(accessed off of Hwy.12 southeast of Elma) 4:45pm-5pm

8 Wood Ducks
4 Turkey Vultures
4 Greater Yellowlegs
30 Least Sandpipers
38 Golden-crowned Sparrows



Reptile highlights of the day included the following:

1 Red-eared Slider(turtle)at the Nisqually NWR
8-10 Northwestern Garter Snakes at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland



Good birding,

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