Tweets,

Today 17 of us walked the full loop at Nisqually under sunny skies. Well,
most of us walked the full loop, with some folks walking out to the photo blind
on the McAllister Creek side and returning to the visitor center.

Shorebirds were the highlight of the day! We saw GREATER and LESSER
YELLOWLEGS, LONG-BILLED and SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, WESTERN and LEAST SANDPIPERS,
KILLDEER and SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, a SPOTTED SANDPIPER, and 2 SEMIPALMATED
SANDPIPERS. All these birds were on the mud flats along the McAllister Creek side,
both inside and outside the dike.

We also had a couple of AMERICAN BITTERN sightings and saw a GREEN HERON
well out on the refuge near Luhr Beach. GREAT BLUE HERON were everywhere. We
also had a male PURPLE MARTIN fly over along McAllister Creek. TREE,
VIOLET-GREEN, BARN, and CLIFF SWALLOWS were all seen near the visitor center, and we saw
a HORNED GREBE out near the sound.

RING-BILLED GULLS were common near the sound and there were several CASPIAN
TERNS near the sound also. We had both COMMON MERGANSERS and a female HOODED
MERGANSER in the same area.

All told we had 62 species for the day, with SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER and
LESSER YELLOWLEGS being new for the year, giving us a total of 126 species for
the year.

Mammals seen included MUSKRAT and CHIPMONK.

Until next week....

Phil Kelley
Lacey, WA
scrubjay323 at aol.com
360-459-1499

" We were few and they were many. Now we are many and they are few"
Confucius