Hello Tweets,

Today we enjoyed a nice day by walking the entire "loop" trail at the Nisqually NWR between 1pm-6pm. Our route began by birding the riparian area between the main building to the Nisqually River,then continuing north along the Nisqually River to the Nisqually Delta during incoming tide. We made a final walk of the wetland areas along the McAllister Creek Trail then looping our way back to the main parking lot. It was a great day filled with good amounts of passerines,especially along the boardwalk to the Nisqually River behind the main building. Additional passerine movements were encountered further north to the Nisqually River Overlook,but areas further north were quite slow.

We and many other birders/enthusiasts today were unable to relocate the Snowy Egret,despite thorough searching along McAllister Creek and it is likely he bird did move on since it was feeding so actively the previous days. We however would not be surprised if the bird reappeared!

Our main highlight of the day went to an immature female AMERICAN REDSTART observed well amongst a movement of 15 Warbling Vireos(including several bright individuals)along the boardwalk to the Nisqually River behind the main or headquarters building. The bird was viewed at 1:15pm,as an intense group of Warbling Vireos worked a limited riparian area along the boardwalk with the Am.Redstart feeding more in denser habitat than the other birds. As the feeding activity continued much of the group of birds drifted or worked to other riparian areas until the entire flock had moved on completely. A group of 6 Western Wood Pewees and 2 Black-headed Grosbeaks were also present at this same location,as was a single CASSIN'S VIREO. The Am.Redstart was a total surprise at this particular location,as well as a quality Thurston Co. species and apparently the first record for the Nisqually NWR! We hadn't expected such a good variety of passerines today due to the time of day,but were pleased by what we did encounter!


As we continued northward to the Nisqually Delta we encountered slower birding conditions and some scoping along the immediate shoreline was possible,but heat waves made it impossible to identify most species,despite the incoming tide. As we worked our way around the outer dike we located the family of California Quail just north of the boardwalk along McAllister Creek. We first noted the adult male watching guard along the sun-exposed trail edge with the adult female and several young in thick brambles,which we did not get an accurate count on. As we continued south and passing the boardwalk we encountered good numbers of Western Sandpipers gathered in a tight flock within the wetland area close to the trail. Further examination of the drying shorebird habitat revealed additional shorebird species,as we scoped from several vantage points along the trail with good lighting conditions. Our return walk back to the main parking lot didn't produce anything additional of note. A list of additional highlights of the day at the Nisqually NWR include the following:

1 Am.Bittern(photographed at close range at the Ring Dike Trail catching a young Bull Frog)
5 Wood Ducks
15 Green-winged Teal
20 Northern Pintail
3 Gadwall
200+ Common Mergansers(Nisqually Delta)
1 Osprey
3 Bald Eagles
2 Northern Harriers
1 Cooper's Hawk
14 Virginia Rails(heard only beginning along the Primitive Trail north to outer dike Trail just west of the Nisqually Delta Overlook)
13 Semipalmated Plovers
16 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Lesser Yellowlegs
475+ Western Sandpipers
90+ Least Sandpipers
4 Baird's Sandpipers(3 birds along the McAllister Creek Trail and 1 bird at the Nisqually Delta)
2 Short-billed Dowitchers
3 Wilson's Snipe
200+ Bonaparte's Gulls(observed foraging along the current line at the Nisqually Reach)
1 Mourning Dove
14+ Vaux's Swifts
1 Olive-sided Flycatcher
12 Western Wood Pewees
8 Willow Flycatchers(including one juvenile bird resting at very close range along the sun-exposed trail north of the Nisqually River Overlook)
1 Pacific-slope Flycatcher
7 Purple Martins
3 Chestnut-backed Chickadees
3 Brown Creepers
4 Swainson's Thrushes
38 Warbling Vireos
17 Yellow Warblers
6 Black-throated Gray Warblers
13 Wilson's Warblers
10 Western Tanagers
1 juvenile Spotted Towhee
6 Purple Finches



Good birding,

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