Tweets,

Today eight of us braved threatening weather for what turned out to be a
very nice day at Nisqually. Long, but very nice. Morning clouds turned to partly
cloudy skies and we had no rain at all.

The birds were very cooperative as we had 61 species total. Highlights
included 5 WILSON'S PHALAROPES on the pond on the right on the way out to
McAllister Creek, 2 VIRGINIA RAIL and 1 young out near McAllister Creek, a SORA way
out along the McAllister Creek trail, a GREEN HERON near the same area, and a
PIED-BILLED GREBE with 4 young in the same area.

CEDAR WAXWINGS were not as common as last week, but were everywhere, as were
COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, WILLOW FLYCATCHERS and YELLOW WARBLERS. We did have a
male BULLOCK'S ORIOLE off the boardwalk to the right of the visitor center.

There were several flocks of BAND-TAILED PIGEON along the Nisqually River
working over the early berries and CASPIAN TERNS were present on the mud flats
at Nisqually Reach...and they were mud flats. We must have gotten there at
dead low tide.

Mammals seen included MUSKRAT, COTTONTAIL RABBIT, and HARBOR SEAL.

New species for the year were WILSON'S PHALAROPE, CASPIAN TERN, and WESTERN
WOOD PEEWEE giving us a total of 126 species for the year.

Until next week...

Phil Kelley
Lacey, WA
360-459-1499
scrubjay323 at aol.com

"We were few and they were many. Now we are many and they are few."
Confucius