Sorry this is a bit late, but here's the highlights. Couldn't pass up the sunny afternoon so headed to Nisqually about 2:30 for a couple of hours. Highlights were an immature northern shrike at the very top of the "peregrine" tree near the Visitor Center. It made a nice Christmas tree top. Also saw song sparrow, ring-necked, mallard and American widgeon, golden-crowned kinglet, B-C chickadee, juvenile and male (sitting for over 15 minutes in a field), cackling geese, and a male downy woodpecker. I also saw an American bittern in the slough past the Nisqually Overlook. I watched him catch, maneuver and finally swallow a good-sized northwestern salamander. It was quite a mouthful!

On 11/25, a friend from Alaska and I headed out in the pouring rain to see what we could find. We went to Luhr Beach and spotted one mature snowny owl on the edge of the mud flats directly across from the fishing deck. We also saw GBH, goldeneyes, common mergansers, A. widgeon, D-C cormorant, kingfisher, hooded merganser, and surf and white-winged scoter. Except for crows and starlings, no birds where found in the farm fields at the I-5/Martin Way intersection. However, I did notice some C. geese in the field when we returned around noon. At McChord we saw, D-E junco, hooded mergansers, coot, A. robins, scrub jay, gadwalls, ring-necked ducks, pied-billed grebe, D-C cormorant, A. widgeon, crows, and mallards. However, our surprise for the morning was finding a flock of 6-10 yellow-rumped warblers. They were feeding along a mowed pathway just off the road and were loosely associated with the D-E juncos. We both thought this was pretty late to see this species. Birding in the rainy weather was productive and was made enjoyable by doing it with my old Alaska birding friend.

Happy Birding,
Valerie Elliott
Olympia, WA