Hello Birders,

Today we walked the entire outer loop trail at the Nisqually NWR in Thurston Co.(in Washington State)between 10:30am-3pm with a nice assortment of species,as our primary goal was to continue to survey the shorebird habitat along the McAllister Creek Trail. We were able to locate 79 species of birds,of which included very few passerines. The shorebird habitat along the west McAllister Creek Trail continues to dwindled as conditions remain dry,but here is still good amount of freshwater/brackish areas inside the dike that have water and shoreline,especially closest to the boardwalk to the photo blind south of the main trail. We also checked this area yesterday with less shorebird diversity than today's visit so everyday is different as expected,as well as having favorable tide conditions to help drive the shorebirds into the area! Yesterday our visit was much shorter than today with much warmer temperatures and worst viewing conditions for shorebirds due to lighting,so the cloud cover today helped alot. Yesterday's visit failed in being able to relocate the adult Snowy Egret observed the previous evening by Guy McWethy,but undoubtedly a great bird and a new species to be added to the Nisqually NWR bird checklist!


We walked our normal route by walking straight to McAllister Creek and passing much of the driest,muddiest areas up to the 1st bench you come to as you walk north of the McAllister Creek Overlook. From this point we thoroughly scoped all the shorebirds inside the trail east of the McAllister Creek Trail,as good numbers of "peeps" we encountered as they flew in and around from the direction of the Nisqually Delta. We spent nearly an hour scoping all the available muddy areas inside the trail until we felt confident enough that we thoroughly scoped everything. Conditions north of the photo blind to the Nisqually Delta turned slower until we got closer to the Nisqually Delta Overlook Platform that remains closed. We encountered good numbers of "peeps" that lined the shoreline along the Nisqually Delta during outgoing tide,being primarily Western Sandpipers and our return hike to the main parking lot via the Nisqually River Trail proved very slow with almost no passerines. Our main highlights of the day consisted of 2 juvenile SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS and a single SOLITARY SANDPIPER within the shorebird habitat along the McAllister Creek Trail with both species noted just south of 1st bench north of the McAllister Creek Overlook. The Semipalmated Sandpipers were only seen together once,but seen well enough amongst large numbers of juvenile Western Sandpipers further away from the trail. The Solitary Sandpiper was noted from the same location,but observed alone along the canal immediately bordering the trail just north of the bench. Yesterday we also observed most likely this same individual bird from a nearby similar location.


Other key highlights noted during our visit to the Nisqually NWR(including a complete shorebird list)include the following species:

12 juvenile Pied-billed Grebes
2 HORNED GREBES(Nisqually Reach)
2 Am.Bitterns
2 Green Herons
6 juvenile Wood Ducks
78 Green-winged Teal(including gathering flocks at the Nisqually Delta)
15 Northern Pintail
5 Northern Shovelers
9 juvenile Gadwall
2 Am.Wigeon
2 GREATER SCAUP(Nisqually Reach)
2 Hooded Mergansers
43 Common Mergansers(Nisqually Reach)
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Osprey
4 Bald Eagles
3 Northern Harriers
2 Sharp-shinned Hawks
4 Virginia Rails(heard only)
23 Semipalmated Plovers(observed from both the McAllister Creek Trail and the Nisqually Delta)
40 Killdeer
18 Greater Yellowlegs
9 Lesser Yellowlegs
1 Spotted Sandpiper
650+ Western Sandpipers(observed from both the McAllister Creek Trail and the Nisqually Delta)
240+ Least Sandpipers(observed from both the McAllister Creek Trail and the Nisqually Delta)
3 Short-billed Dowitchers(with 4 noted yesterday along the McAlister Creek Trail)
3 Long-billed Dowitchers
1 Wilson's Snipe
5 Pigeon Guillemots(Nisqually Reach)
30 Band-tailed Pigeons
1 Mourning Dove
2 Vaux's Swifts
6 Western Wood Pewees
1 Pacific-slope Flycatcher
12+ Purple Martins
1 Common Raven(observed along the Nisqually River Trail south of the Ring Dike Trail)
5 Yellow Warblers
1 Wilson's Warbler
2 Western Tanagers
3 Purple Finches



Good birding,

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