Tweets,

Today eight of us enjoyed a relatively quiet walk of the outer dike trail at
Nisqually. the day started out cool & clear and we ended up in warm, sunny
weather. The refuge still needs lots of water and the lack of waterfowl show
it. The tide was way out so we didn't see as much as we had hoped.

Highlight included an AMERICAN BITTERN behind the visitor center as we first
arrived, a PEREGRINE FALCON flying over Nisqually Reach onto the refuge, and
a PILIATED WOODPECKER inside the boardwalk as we returned to the visitor
center.

All in all the day was pretty quiet with small numbers of birds seen. We did
see lots of YELLOW-RUMPER WARBLERS and CEDAR WAXWINGS, but other species
contained few members. We saw a lone BALD EAGLE, a single RED-TAILED HAWK, one
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, and two NORTHER HARRIERS.

We did see our first AMERICAN WIGEON of the fall and there were plenty of
MALLARDS and WOOD DUCKS around. we had a couple of NORTHERN PINTAIL and
GREEN-WINGED TEAL, but some water will increase the number of waterfowl
significantly. The only shorebirds seen were one KILLDEER and a lone GREATER YELLOWLEGS.
We did see a small flock of peeps out near the sound but they were too far
away to ID.

All told we saw 45 species with nothing new for the year. the only mammal
seen was an EASTERN GRAY SQUIRREL.

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