Hi Tweeters:

There were eleven of us at Nisqually today. It was cold and mostly cloudy, but no rain. The birds cooperated quite well, especially early in the walk. Ducks are still low in number.

The PERIGRINE FALCON was in the fir tree behind the visitor center. A RINGED-NECK DUCK and PIED-BILL GREBE were in the pond. As we walked around the corner of the parking lot, two SWANS flew directly over. We weren't sure of species, but TRUMPETER was the best guess.

Off the McAllister Creek trail we saw three ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS and one of them in particular gave us great views. A NORTHERN SHRIKE was also observed, as were three SNIPE in flight. At the creek there were BUSHTITS and CEDAR WAXWINGS. Dave spotted a leucystic AMERICAN ROBIN with a white collar across the back of its neck and white splotches on the face. We struggled to describe the color variation and then laughed at a MALLARD DECOY that was floating around the creek with some real MALLARDS, and looking quite real itself.

Sightings at the twin barns included an AMERICAN KESTREL and the very light RED-TAILED HAWK that we have seen regularly over the past month or more.

At the river overlook two adult BALD EAGLES were high up in a tree talking to each other. We also had a small mixed flock of GOLDEN and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, and several BROWN CREEPERS.

We looked hard for owls on the way to and around the ring dike, but with no luck. We did see a large flock of PINE SISKINS, with several GOLD FINCHES mixed in. There was also a small flock of DARK-EYED JUNCOS on the trail.

It was fairly quiet on the way back to the visitor center, with the exception of a PILEATED WOODPECKER fly-by. There was also a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK circling high above the visitor center.

Total species for the day: 51.

Eric Slagle, Olympia
hannaslagle at comcast.net