Subject: [Tweeters] White-breasted Nuthatch at Nisqually NWR
Date: Sep 4 17:16:55 2006
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit513 at msn.com


Hello Tweets,

Today we enjoyed a nice day birding the entire "loop" trail at the Nisqually NWR between 8am-2:30pm. Our visit offered a great variety of species,despite rather slow passerine movements. We birded the riparian areas between the main parking lot to the Twin Barns fairly heavily,then we were joined by Jim Pruske as we all walked the entire loop around the refuge. Our main and most unexpected highlight of the day was a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH heard calling 4-5 times along the boardwalk just south of the Twin Barns. The bird called from dense stands of Red Alder,Big Leaf Maple and Oregon Ash trees with several tall Black Cottonwood trees nearby too. The bird never came close and remained calling,despite a small movement of passerines that came into "pishing". This species was a most unexpected sighting due to this location being far north of the normal range in western Washington,being the Ridgefield NWR area. We can only expect that this bird was a true migrant or wanderer and could eventually show up anywhere! This record represents one of very few if any recent records for the Nisqually NWR,as well as for Thurston Co.!

Our other main highlight of the day was a single adult WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE observed primarily alone along McAllister Creek just north of the photo blind boardwalk,where the bird foraged near a flock of Canada Geese along the partially exposed mudflats. This was our personal earliest fall record date in Washington!

We encountered a total of 76 species today and shorebird numbers continued to be few along the McAllister Creek Trail,as conditions remain dry. Our walk along the Nisqually Delta was fairly poor due to the low tide conditions,as well as fairly heavy heat waves. As we walked south from the Nisqually Delta the tide began to move in and we ran into many more hikers out for a nice afternoon walk.


A list of additional highlights we encountered during our visit to the Nisqually NWR include the following:

25 Horned Grebes(Nisqually Reach)
2 Western Grebes(observed together at the Nisqually Reach and our first of the season for this location)
2 Am.Bitterns
1 Green Heron
7 Wood Ducks
150+ Am.Wigeons
1 Bufflehead
2 Hooded Mergansers
200+ Common Mergansers(Nisqually Delta)
1 Osprey
5 Northern Harriers
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Cooper's Hawk
1 Am.Kestrel
1 MERLIN(our personal first of the fall and for this location)
1 Peregrine Falcon
5 Virginia Rails(heard only)
2 Am.Coots
12 Semipalmated Plovers
8 Greater Yellowlegs
60+ Western Sandpipers
10 Least Sandpipers
2 Baird's Sandpiper
2 Mourning Doves
50+ Vaux's Swifts(observed foraging with both Barn Swallows and small numbers of Violet-green Swallows near the Ring Dike Trail)
1 Pileated Woodpecker
1 Western Scrub Jay(observed in riparian habitat just southwest of the main parking lot)
1 Common Raven
1 Chestnut-backed Chickadee
3 Brown Creepers
1 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET(our personal first of the season)
1 Swainson's Thrush
2 CASSIN'S VIREOS
5 Yellow Warblers
1 Wilson's Warbler
2 Spotted Towhees
3 Lincoln's Sparrows(our first of the season for this location)
10 Purple Finches



Good birding,

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