Hello Tweeters,

I took my kids, Deyland and Cally, to Woodard Bay in Olympia today to prowl around during low tide. While there, we saw several Purple Martins flitting about. If you have never been to the Woodard Bay preserve, it is a great place to experience nature with children. It is a fairly easy walk on a paved path through a protected forest or you can hike the longer trail in the woods). Lots of tide pool critters can be found when the tide is out. Be very careful if you go under the pier as there are rusty cables and sharp pieces of wood about, not to mention clams that shoot cold water into embarassing places. Dozens of harbor seals can be easily seen at fairly close quarters, laying about like sausages and snorting back and forth (reminds me of my Florida relatives). We also saw three juvenile minks that would wrap their bodies around one another and stack their heads while curiously checking us out. We also found a coast mole on the surface. There was also a fairly good!
number
of common shore and forest birds about, including a very vocal Osprey.

A couple of days earlier I was with the intrepid Deyland hiking on Sauk Mountain when we saw what I thought was a Blue Grouse hen and two chicks. When we got home and I checked the Tweeters posting for the day, I found that it was actually either a Sooty or a Dusky Grouse. Oh well, which ever it was, the chicks were still cute.

Lonnie Somer
Olympia, WA
wheelermombi at comcast.net