Subject: [Tweeters] Nisqually NWR 5/4/2006
Date: May 4 21:49:44 2006
From: Scrubjay323 at aol.com - Scrubjay323 at aol.com


Tweets,

Today 6 of us enjoyed a beautiful day at Nisqually. The sun shone all day
and the weather warmed up quickly.

Highlights included 6 swallow species and all three teal. We had BARN,
CLIFF, TREE, and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS at the visitor center. Added PURPLE MARTIN
at McAllister Creek and added NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW near the photo
blind along McAllister Creek. We had a BLUE-WINGED TEAL land on McAllister
Creek and had a CINNAMON TEAL inside the dike out where the maintenance road
meets the outer dike trail. GREEN-WINGED TEAL were fairly common today. We were
all surprised be the number of NORTHEN PINTAIL still on the refuge.

Shorebirds finally showed up with LEAST SANDPIPERS, GREATER YELLOWLEGS,
WESTERN SANDPIPERS, and DUNLIN all on the outer mud flats. We also had our first
YELLOW WARBLERS of the year in the riparian area across from the visitor
center.

All told we had 59 species for the day. New for the year were GREATER SCAUP,
WESTERN SANDPIPER, LEAST SANDPIPER, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, PURPLE
MARTIN, and YELLOW WARBLER, giving us a total of 107 species for the year.

Mammals seen included COTTONTAIL RABBIT, GRAY SQUIRREL, HARBOR SEAL and
RIVER OTTER.

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