Subject: [Tweeters] Nisqually NWR 3/3/05
Date: Mar 3 16:28:30 2005
From: Scrubjay323 at aol.com - Scrubjay323 at aol.com


Tweets,

Today two of us walked the full loop at Nisqually in pretty dense fog. Long
distance viewing was out of the question, but we still had a good day.

Things are drying out at Nisqually and waterfowl are either heading north or
pairing up. We didn't see any major congregations of ducks, but did see most
of the usual species. Raptor viewing was limited to a couple of NORTHERN
HARRIERS and a couple of RED-TAILED HAWKS. Either they weren't flying or they
were above the fog.

Highlights of the day were two sightings of AMERICAN BITTERN and an EARED
GREBE. The grebe was at the end of McAllister Creek near the sound. The bittern
were off the trail to McAllister Creek and near the photo blind on the
McAllister Creek side.

Adult YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS were common throughout the refuge as were
BEWICK'S WREN and GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS. We also saw a couple of FOX SPARROWS,
including one with a very reddish back near the trail to the photo blind on the
McAllister Creek side.

We found one small mixed flock at the end of the boardwalk that included
BROWN CREEPER, DOWNEY WOODPECKER, CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, and both KINGLETS.
This flock included a couple of birds of each species, not the far greater
numbers seen in the past weeks. There was a lot of courtship activity going on
and a lot of the RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS were flashing their crowns.

We also saw both TREE and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS over the pond behind the
visitor center and had several turtles sunning themselves about 12:30 when the
sun finally came out.

All told we had 49 species for the day with the EARED GREBE and VIOLET-GREEN
SWALLOW being new for the year, giving us 83 species for the year.

Next week Eric Slagle and Dawn Bailey will be your fearless leaders as I
will be in Death Valley, CA. I'll be back at the helm the following week.

Until then....

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