Tweets,

Today was a great day at Nisqually!! With all the reports of the GREAT
EGRET we decided to alter our usual route and go to the photo blind on the
McAllister Creek side to see if we could find this bird. We didn't need to.

The weather was great and the birds cooperated! And how did they cooperate!

By the time we cleared the willows at the end of the ponds close to the
parking lot Barbara asked what was that white bird sitting in that small tree out
beyond McAllister Creek? Results: good scope views of the GREAT EGRET.
Maybe we don't need to alter our normal route. Shortly thereafter we had 3
NORTHERN HARRIERS playing tag just off the trail. It appeared to be a female
and 2 young of the year. Great show.

When we got to the mud flats just short of McAllister Creek we saw a few
shorebirds: KILLDEER (lots), WESTERN SANDPIPERS, LEAST SANDPIPERS, and a couple
of SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, but nothing else.

Decision time. Head back to the boardwalk or go out toward the sound and
look for more shorebirds. Everyone pointed toward the sound. We added 3 more
shorebirds to our list with SPOTTED SANDPIPER (in basic plumage) and GREATER
and LESSER YELLOWLEGS. But the real highlight turned out to be the GREAT
EGRET. First he flew up McAllister Creek and circled in front of us, then he
waded in full view, and later he did a couple of more flybys just to be sure we
saw him.

Back on earth we found a couple of migrating NASHVILLE WARBLERS, an AMERICAN
BITTERN and a GREEN HERON. We also had a couple of small mixed flocks of
migrating warblers that included YELLOW and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS.

On the down side the swallows are mostly gone, but the raptors are coming
back as the fields are mowed.

All told we saw 48 species for the day with the GREAT EGRET being new for
the year giving us 142 species for the year. No mammals were seen except
fisherman on the Nisqually River.

Until next week when we walk the full loop...



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



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