Hello Tweets,

Today we spent a rewarding day at the Nisqually NWR in Thurston Co. between 10am-5pm. with several highlights and outstanding birding conditions. Despite crowds of people attracted to the Nisqually Watershed Festival we managed to walk the entire "loop" trail,as well as search the entrance area for dragonflies. Our 2 main highlights encountered during our visit began with a juvenile American Golden Plover observed during high tide at the northwest corner of the refuge amongst a small flock of waterfowl resting along the edges of Salicornia "islands". The bird then flew southward onto the refuge with a single Am.Wigeon,but remained unvocal as it flew overhead,but no indication of the toes extending beyond the tail were observed. Our other shorebird highlight of the day was a single Solitary Sandpiper observed with a flock of 6 Greater Yellowlegs in the available shorebird habitat north of McAllister Creek as you walk towards the outer dike. This represents our personal latest all date for WA and a noteworthy date for this location. Continuing onward along the outer loop trail towards the Nisqually Overlook Observation Tower a single Palm Warbler was carefully picked out amongst a roaming flock of dull Yellow-rumped Warblers. The Palm Warbler foraged closest to the ground,but never came fully out from hedgerows of thick vegetation between 2 sets of benches. The striking bright yellow undertail coverts really stood out from the rather dingy dull brown-yellow plumage with some minor streaking on the upper breast and a noticeable pale supercillium. We suspect this bird was in active migration,as the entire flock of birds moved along the hedgerow that lined the trail and it is possible the Palm Warbler could move on by itself. It was a unexpected species for this location,but it paid off checking over most of the Yellow-rumped Warblers we saw all day.

Our third main highlight of the day onward walking along the north dike trail towards the observation tower were 2 Lapland Longspurs that called as they flew over the trail just west of the observation tower and presumably landed in extensive vegetation areas north of the trail bordering the Nisqually Delta. Away from these listed highlights lingering passerines were still evident,as well as a few movements encountered primarily along the eastern portion of the refuge. Extensive scoping was made along the outer dike trail that yielded additional waterbirds species with fairly good viewing conditions.A list of other key highlights noted at the Nisqually NWR included the following:

10 Common Loons
12 Horned Grebes
1 Red-necked Grebe
6 Wood Ducks
2 Blue-winged Teal
2 Eurasian Wigeon(1 male and 1 rufous-morph female)amongst a large scattered flock of Am.Wigeon at the Nisqually Delta
35+ Surf Scoters
2 Hooded Mergansers
28 Turkey Vultures
2 Ospreys
4-5 Northern Harriers
2 Cooper's Hawk
7 Red-tailed Hawks
2 Merlins
3 Peregrine Falcons(including 1 bird perched within the Nisqally River bridge over I-5)
10 Virginia Rails(heard only from various locations)
5 Am.Coots
9 Greater Yellowlegs
2 Western Sandpipers
1 Mew Gull
3 Mourning Doves
5 Vaux's Swifts
1 Red-breasted Sapsucker
3 Downy Woodpeckers
1 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Pileated Woodpecker
14+ Violet-green Swallows
45+ Barn Swallows
1 Willow Flycatcher
5 Steller's Jays
2 Common Ravens(observed drifting east over I-5 towards Nisqually)
8 Chestnut-backed Chickadees
10 Bushtits
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
10 Brown Creepers
1 Winter Wren
12 Golden-crowned Kinglets
47+ Ruby-crowned Kinglets
1 Swainson's Thrush
1 Hermit Thrush
1 Varied Thrush(a single male partially singing atop a Black Cottonwood tree just south of the Twin Barns)
78+ Cedar Waxwings
2 Yellow Warblers
55+ Yellow-rumped Warblers
2 Black-throated Gray Warblers
32+ Common Yellowthroats
1 Western Tanager
14 "Sooty"Fox Sparrows
4 Lincoln's Sparrows
67+ Golden-crowned Sparrows
15 White-crowned Sparrows
30 Purple Finches

On a side note of the good numbers of dragonflies we encountered during the warm day at the Nisqually NWR we were able to locate and verify only 5 species including the following:

Paddle-tailed Darner
Blue-eyed Darner
Cardinal Meadowhawk
Striped Meadowhawk
Red-veined Meadowhawk



Good birding,


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