Tweets,

A dozen of us, more or less, enjoyed a nice walk at Nisqually yesterday
under mostly cloudy skies with little wind and no rain. I say a dozen, more or
less, because we too, had folks leaving early and joining late. Part of that
was due to the fact we walked the route in reverse, starting out toward the
ring dike and hitting McAllister Creek last.

The day was very dry and the ponds across from the parking lot are just
about gone. Our most numerous duck was CINNAMON TEAL and we only saw four
species of ducks. the others were MALLARDS, WOOD DUCKS, and HOODED MERGANSERS.

The most common birds for the day were WILLOW FLYCATCHERS, RUFOUS
HUMMINGBIRDS, CEDAR WAXWINGS, and YELLOW WARBLERS. We heard lots of SWAINSON'S THRUSH
and saw a few.

Of course there were scads of swallows around, mostly BARN, CLIFF, and TREE
with a few VIOLET-GREEN thrown in. The most unusual swallow sighting was a
NORTHEN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW pecking at the otter scat out at the ring dike.
Mud for a nest? Food for junior?

There were 2 young in the Hummingbird nest, but we couldn't see any activity
in the WARBLING VIREO nest. Last week the vireos were feeding young.

Not much exciting yesterday. All told we saw 42 species with nothing new
for the year.

The only mammal seen was an EASTERN GRAY SQUIRREL.

Until next week when we revert to normal....

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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