Hello Tweets,

This afternoon under mostly cloudy skies we walked along the McAllister Creek Trail at the Nisqually NWR between 1:30pm-5:30pm in search of shorebirds. Conditions continue to dry up rapidly inside the dike with more obvious muddy areas than flooded areas. Most of the more flooded areas persist closer to the boardwalk,as you walk north towards the Nisqually Delta. During the incoming tide we noticed an overall decrease in shorebirds during our visit compared to our last visit,but with a slight chance in he weather more shorebirds will continue to move through the area. We also noticed that much of the more muddy areas further away from the trail offered very difficult views of "peeps" since they would forage in dips and in more concealed areas. Our main highlights of the afternoon were a single BAIRD'S SANDPIPER and 2 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS amongst the few scatterings of other shorebirds. A list of additional highlights noted during our visit to the Nisqually NWR included the following:

8 juvenile Pied-billed Grebes
5 Am.Bitterns
6 juvenile Wood Ducks
12 Green-winged Teal
3 Blue-winged Teal
2 Cinnamon Teal
6 juvenile Gadwall
1 Am.Wigeon
7 Hooded Mergansers
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Osprey
8 Bald Eagles
2 Northern Harriers
1 adult Cooper's Hawk
1 Am.Kestrel
1 juvenile Peregrine Falcon(same individual than noted in past visits)
1 juvenile Am.Coot
17 Greater Yellowlegs
9 Lesser Yellowlegs
1 Spotted Sandpiper
27 Western Sandpipers
48+ Least Sandpipers
4 Long-billed Dowitchers
1 Wilson's Snipe
2 Band-tailed Pigeons
1 Mourning Dove
2 Western Wood Pewees
5 Purple Martins
4 Northern Rough-winged Swallows


Our mammal highlight of the afternoon was a very quick,but excellent close look at a MINK atop a culvert grate along the McAllister Creek Trail,as we were watching shorebirds.



Good shorebirding,

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