Tweets,

Today 14 of us walked Nisqually NWR in cold, overcast conditions. I'm not
sure where the 50 degree warmth comes in but it didn't Make it to Nisqually
this morning. At least it didn't rain and the wind didn't blow!

The highlight of the day was a GREAT HORNED OWL in the nest tree between the
twin barns and the Nisqually side. Upon return to that area after walking
the ring dike an OWLET had joined the adult roosting by the nest hole!

Other highlights included several WOOD DUCK and HOODED MERGANSERS, often in
the same area. Out at McAllister Creek we watched a RIVER OTTER drag a fish
up over the dike and saw a MINK frolicking (feeding?) in the shallows there
also. We also saw our first PEREGRINE FALCON of the year.

Waterfowl numbers were higher than last week and the number of species was
also up. We saw three EURASIAN WIGEONS among the 13 species of ducks we saw.
We had a WILSON'S SNIPE and a NORTHERN SHRIKE along the trail to McAllister
Creek, but the song birds have "deflocked" and broken up into pairs or small
groups.

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS were fairly common and both RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS and
MARSH WREN were on territory and singing. No hummers or warblers yet, but
they can't be too far off. As Bob said last week: we are getting like kids on
a trip....are we there yet? Boy, are we ready for spring.

All told we had 49 species for the day with the GREAT HORNED OWL, PEREGRINE
FALCON, and PURPLE FINCH new for the year, giving us a total of 81 species for
the year.

Besides the RIVER OTTER and MINK other mammals seen were EASTERN GRAY
SQUIRREL and RACCOON.

Until next week.....

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




************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone.
Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.