Hi Tweeters,

I went for one last look at the snowy owls at Luhr Beach this morning. There were still two of them hanging out, one not far from the Nisqually observation tower. I spent an hour there (9:30-10:30) with several birders coming and going. Other species spotted included a pair of bald eagles, 3 red-throated loons, a couple of Pacific loons and 1 common loon, numerous horned grebes, one eared grebe, and 1 western grebe. Also lots of the the more common water birds. Several sea lions were hanging around the green buoy in the distance at about 10:00 (to the left) if one is facing the end of the dock.

Lots of raptors today at Nisqually NWR. The best sighting was at McAllister Creek. I was watching some green-winged teals through my scope when a male n. harrier nailed one of them less then a hundred feet away. It was nearly pure gray dorsally, and almost pure white on the breast, with just a few light brown streaks. Also spotted was a peregrine doing some amazing aerobics, a few other harriers, 2 very vocal red-tailed hawks, 1 sharp-shinned hawk that skimmed just above my head from behind and landed in a nearby tree to glare at me, and a bald eagle. The northern shrike made an appearence on the trail to Mc|Allister Creek. The eared grebe is still there. Ring-necked ducks are starting to turn up. The most common forest birds this time were golden-crowned sparrows and white-crowned sparrows.

Good birding,

Lonnie Somer
Olympia, WA
wheelermombi at comcast.net