Hello Tweets,

Today we spent a few hours birding in Pierce and Lewis Cos.,where we located a few species of interest. We began at the end of Mounts Rd. in southern Pierce Co.,where we scoped the restored area that shows some potential shorebird habitat. his is the same location where we have done a few Nisqually Restoration Site surveys over the past 2 years,but is currently still closed off to the public. A portion of the area is still very visible from the end of Mounts Rd.,where muddy areas exists allowing some habitat for shorebirds to forage especially during high tide levels. This morning we located only a small sample of shorebirds here including a SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER and 3 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS along with small flocks of both Western and Least Sandpipers. 8 Northern Shovelers were also noted at this location,as well as a single Willow Flycatcher. Upon returning onto I-5 heading south the shorebird habitat is very visible north of the Nisqually River bridge,but stopping along this stretch of the highway is not advised. We made a very quick stop to take a short survey across the muddy areas,but located no shorebirds. We did however observe a single BROWN PELICAN flying high above the Nisqually Delta in the distance in both Pierce and Thurston Cos.!

We continued south along I-5 to Centralia,as we went through heavy down pours of rain,but upon reaching the Centralia Steam Plant skies cleared considerably. Our primary goal here was to check for shorebirds from Big Hanaford Rd. east of the main steam plant operations. This area is well monitored by security,but the wetland areas can be scoped from outside private areas with a good spotting scope. We were able to get a good assortment of species including both waterfowl and shorebirds in the only wetland area that hosts low water levels. Here, highlights included 4 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS and a single PECTORAL SANDPIPER,which are both nice shorebird species for Lewis Co. A more thorough scoping of the area revealed additional shorebird species,as well as a wide variety of waterfowl too that collected in areas that held the most water. A list of other interesting species at this location included the following:

2 Pied-billed Grebes
57 Green-winged Teal
17 Northern Pintail
4 Blue-winged Teal
15 Cinnamon Teal
7 Northern Shovelers
14 Turkey Vultures
2 Am.Coots
4 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS
2 Lesser Yellowlegs
1 Spotted Sandpiper
3 Western Sandpipers
34 Least Sandpipers
8 Long-billed Dowitchers
1 Purple Martin
good numbers of Barn and Violet-green Swallows flying over open fields surrounding the wetland area


Good birding,

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