Hello Tweets,

Today we birded the Nisqually NWR by walking the entire outer loop trail between 11am-2:45pm with a total of 75 species. Our main searches continued with shorebirds along the McAllister Creek Trail,as water levels continue to lower creating more muddy areas. Of the 9 species of shorebirds encountered today our main highlight was 3 juvenile SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS visible from the McAllister Creek Trail south of the photo blind,where they all associated separately with a few other "peeps". We noticed that due to the lower water levels(within the shorebird habitat along McAllister Creek)many of the shorebirds are feeding further away from the trail and behind vegetation clumps,so a good thorough scoping of the area is well recommended. Shorebird diversity was much different today than our previous visit with an overall decline in numbers of most species noted.As we continued north of the photo blind towards the Nisqually Delta shorebird habitat dwindled with only a few small areas of mud away from the canal bordering the entire trail. Our songbird highlight of the day went to a single adult CHIPPING SPARROW amongst a small flock of White-crowned Sparrows at the southwest corner of the main parking. This bird could be the same individual as noted near that location on the 30th of July. Our return walk from the Nisqually Delta along the Nisqually River was very slow most likely due to the time of day with very few passerines noted. A list of our main highlights of the day include the following:

10 juvenile Pied-billed Grebes
3 Am.Bittern(all noted along the McAllister Creek Trail)
9 juvenile Wood Ducks
6 Green-winged Teal
6 Northern Pintail
6 Blue-winged Teal
4 Cinnamon Teal
2 Northern Shovelers
3 adult Bald Eagles
2 Northern Harriers
1 juvenile Peregrine Falcon(observed along the McAllister Creek Trail pursuing shorebirds and waterfowl,but was unable to catch anything)
2 Virginia Rails
2 juvenile Am.Coots
23 Semipalmated Plovers(amongst many,many Killdeer along the McAllister Creek Trail)
19 Greater Yellowlegs
8 Lesser Yellowlegs
4 adult Spotted Sandpipers
3 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS
62 Western Sandpipers
38 Least Sandpipers
37 Long-billed Dowitchers
2 Bonaparte's Gulls(Nisqually Reach)
40+ Caspian Terns
5 Rhinoceros Auklets(Nisqually Reach)
25 Band-tailed Pigeons
2 Mourning Doves
1 Olive-sided Flycatcher
7 Western Wood Pewees
20+ Willow Flycatchers
1 Pacific-slope Flycatcher
12+ Purple Martins
10 Northern Rough-winged Swallows
3 Common Ravens(observed together along the Nisqually River Trail south of the Ring Dike Trail)
25 Bushtits
2 Yellow Warblers
2 Wilson's Warblers
1 CHIPPING SPARROW
30 White-crowned Sparrows
5 Purple Finches
2 RED CROSSBILLS



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit513 at msn.com