Hello Tweets,

This evening at 6pm a short survey along the McAllister Creek trail at the Nisqually NWR produced several species of shorebirds. Most noteworthy were increasing numbers of Western Sandpipers with far more juvenile birds than a previous visit. The shorebird habitat along the McAllister Creek trail has declined in water levels with far more muddy areas now,especially at the extreme southwest corner of the "loop" trail. Unfortunately during the visit an adult Peregrine Falcon flew through the area flushing nearly all the shorebirds,which seemed to scatter towards the Nisqually Delta. The lighting continues to be the best during the evening along with having a high tide level at the Nisqually Delta. A list of shorebirds and other species follows below:

9 Green-winged Teal
2 Cinnamon Teal
1 Northern Harrier
3 Greater Yellowlegs
5 Lesser Yellowlegs
350+ Western Sandpipers
40+ Least Sandpipers
4 Baird's Sandpipers
3 Short-billed Dowitchers
9 Long-billed Dowitchers
1 Wilson's Snipe
1 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE
1 Mourning Dove
1 Vaux's Swift
1 Western Wood Pewee
5 Willow Flycatchers
2 Purple Martins
8 Northern Rough-winged Swallows


In addition we have placed several photos taken yesterday at the Oyhut Wildlife Area at Ocean Shores. These photos include the Pacific Golden Plovers, the Wilson's Phalarope and a few of the Lesser Yellowlegs we observed there. These photos can all be accessed at the following link: http://www.pbase.com/godwit/recent_photos/


Good birding,

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