Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded from the Nisqually NWR to Brady Loop Rd. with a fairly good assortment of species and highlights. The weather remained quite variable throughout the day with isolated scattered rain showers at times to mostly sunny skies. We began our day the Nisqually NWR from 10:30am-12:15pm,then we traveled to the Elma-Brady area we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon checking several locations. Extensive flooded areas of nor were especially apparent such as along Wenzel Slough Rd. and at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland near Elma due to the heavy recent rain during the past week,but other nearby areas showed minimal flooded areas.Our main highlights of the day included a "Slate-colored"Fox Sparrow at the Nisqually NWR,where the bird was briefly,but well observed in thick brambles along the east-west McAllister Creek trail immediately east of McAllister Creek. The bird was observed alone(with a single "Sooty"Fox Sparrow nearby)along the northern edge of the trail foraging on the ground at 11:30am before ascending into thicker cover. This exact location is just east of the north-south trail that continues north along McAllister Creek and just east of a canal bordered by thick brambles and cover. The other highlight of the day was the "Thick-billed"Fox Sparrow that we relocated near Satsop at 2pm at the same location than first reported on the 20th of March. This location is 0.4 miles south of Hwy.12 along the western edge of Keys Rd. and just north of the east end of Wenzel Slough Rd. and the bird was observed and photographed today with up to 5 "Sooty"Fox Sparrows for good comparison. We returned to the location at 3:30pm,but were unable to relocate the bird with no activity. Our third highlight of the day was up to 4 Northern Rough-winged Swallows observed from the wheelchair access trail at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland,which are our personal first for the season.

Additional highlights observed during the day included the following at selected locations and times:

Nisqually NWR 10:30am-12:15pm

2 Pied-billed Grebes
3 Greater White-fronted Geese
1 pair of Wood Ducks
1 Am.Green-winged/Eurasian"Common"Teal intergrade
1 Am./Eurasian Wigeon intergrade
1 Ring-necked Duck
1 Northern Harrier
3 Bald Eagles
1 adult Cooper's Hawk
1 adult dark-morph Red-tailed Hawk
1 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Great Horned Owl
1 Rufous Hummingbird
1 Cliff Swallow(with good numbers of Tree and Violet-green Swallows)
3 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Savannah Sparrow
2 Brewer's Blackbirds
1 Purple Finch


Mammal highlights:

2 Coyotes
1 Long-tailed Weasel



Wenzel Slough Rd.(Vance Creek Co. Park to Keys Rd.) 1:15pm-1:55pm

1 Pied-billed Grebe
1 Trumpeter Swan
2 Wood Ducks
1 pair of Cinnamon Teal
42 Ring-necked Ducks
5 Greater Scaup(with 3 Lesser Scaup)
3 Turkey Vultures
1 Osprey
5 Hooded Mergansers
90+ Band-tailed Pigeons(Keys Rd.)
2 Rufous Hummingbirds
1 Western Scrub Jay


Brady Loop Rd. complex 2:45pm-3:20pm

1 Turkey Vulture
2 Northern Harriers
7 Am.Kestrels(including 1 pair performing nesting behavior near a nestbox)
1 pair of Ring-necked Pheasants
78 Black-bellied Plovers
14 Greater Yellowlegs
145+ Dunlin
2 Long-billed Dowitchers
2 Western Scrub Jays
4 Western Meadowlarks


Schouweiler Rd. wetland 4pm-4:30pm

2 Am.Bitterns(heard only)
1 Osprey
3 Turkey Vultures
4 Northern Rough-winged Swallows
1 Cliff Swallow




Good birding,

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