Tweets,

Today 11 of us got lucky with the weather...and the birds. It was cold and
foggy when we started out, but the weather soon cleared and we spent most of
the day in sunshine. It seemed as soon as the sun came out so did the birds.

Highlights included looks at a NORTHERN SHRIKE off the twin barns platform
and again behind the ring dike, probably the same bird, and great looks at a
GREEN HERON in the slough near the hummingbird sign on the boardwalk along the
Nisqually River side. This bird posed for some nice pictures!

We had a good variety of waterfowl and there must have been a raptor
convention on the refuge today. We had many NORTHERN HARRIERS and RED-TAILED HAWKS,
a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, a couple of BALD EAGLES, and a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. All
the usual species of ducks were present, but none in really great numbers.

We had a couple small mixed flocks of passerines, one of which included a
HUTTON'S VIREO. Kinglets and chickadees were common, as were juncos.

All told we had 51 species with nothing new for the year.

There were several HARBOR SEALS in the Nisqually River, and there was a
COYOTE in the field near the refuge entrance.

I'll be out of town next week, but Eric Slagle will lead the walk at the
usual time. I'll be back for the walk on 8 December.

Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving.

Phil Kelley
Lacey, WA
_scrubjay323 at aol.com_ (mailto:scrubjay323 at aol.com)
360-459-1499