Hello Tweets,

Today we spent a few hours birding the Nisqually NWR,then a short visit made at Luhr Beach during incoming tide. The weather held up for us with mostly cloudy skies with only a few showers near the end of our walk at the Nisqually NWR. The adult Snow Goose previously reported by Matthew Pike and Gary Wiles was again easily observed as we arrived at the refuge off of I-5,where it landed into a green,grassy field then again relocated from the McAllister Creek trail. The bird stayed in fairly close proximity to a very large flock of Cackling Geese,but at times flew off by itself along the southern border of the refuge. We later relocated the bird in a corn stubble/pumpkin field just east of the base of the Nisqually Cut-Off Rd.,which is accessed off of I-5 at the Nisqually Exit. 45+ Am.Pipits were also encountered at this location.The bird was observed heavily feeding with a large flock of Cackling Geese and seemed to be the most active feeder. We also noticed that the bird had an injured leg or foot since the bird was limping. Anyhow, it was nice watching it pulling corn roots out of the ground and munching on them making it's snowy white head all muddy. The bird should stay around the vicinity of the Nisqually NWR since it is injured,but the key is tracking the largest densities of Cackling Geese.

At the Nisqually NWR we walked to the McAllister Creek Overlook,then walked the entire boardwalk to the Twin Barns then back to the main parking lot. Most noteworthy were very large numbers of Northern Pintail,Am.Wigeon,Mallards,Green-winged Teal,and Northern Shovelers all gathered in the recently flooded area along both sides of the McAllister Creek trail immediately west of the main parking lot. This area is a safe haven for waterfowl during the active hunting season. A list of additional highlights from the Nisqually NWR included the following:

1,500+ Cackling Geese
1 partial leucistic female Am.Wigeon(observed in the flooded area amongst other waterfowl immediately west of the main parking lot)
1 female Eurasian Wigeon
2 Hooded Mergansers
1 Pied-billed Grebe
2 Am.Bitterns
4 Northern Harriers
1 adult Cooper's Hawk
2 Merlin
1 Peregrine Falcon
6 Am.Coots
4 Wilson's Snipe
1 Common Raven
5 Yellow-rumped Warblers
2 Savannah Sparrows
2 Lincoln's Sparrows
4 Purple Finches
45+ Am.Goldfinches


Our visit to Luhr Beach was somewhat slow,but a few notable species were encountered with careful scoping of the open water of the Nisqually Reach and limited mudflats of the Nisqually Delta. Very large numbers of Am.Wigeon lined the shoreline of the Nisqually Delta,but shorebird numbers were extremely few. Our most noteworthy sightings at this location included the following:

55+ Greater Scaup
70 Surf Scoters
45 White-winged Scoters
30 Buffleheads
47 Red-breasted Mergansers
3 Red-throated Loons
13 Common Loons
7 Red-necked Grebes
30 Eared Grebes
6 Western Grebes
1 Northern Harrier
8 Black-bellied Plovers
2 Least Sandpipers
1 Dunlin
3 Western Gulls
1 Pigeon Guillemot



Good birding,

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