Tweets,

Today I led a Black Hills Audubon field trip to Nisqually NWR where we walked the outer dike loop. It was cold and damp but there was no wind, so conditions weren't too bad.

There was a good diversity of species but not a lot of any one species. Highlights included a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE near the first clump of willows on the trail to McAllister Creek, a RED-THROATED LOON, HORNED GREBE, and a flock of BRANT.

The RED-THROATED LOON and the HORNED GREBES were on McAllister Creek out near where it dumps into the sound. The flock of BRANT were out on the beach by the sound. We also had a COMMON LOON in this area.

We managed to see all three mergansers. We had HOODED MERGANSER on the pond behind the visitor center, RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS on McAllister Creek, and COMMON MERGANSERS on the Nisqually River.

We had great looks at a NORTHERN SHRIKE near the ring dike and saw several RED-TAILED HAWKS, NORTHERN HARRIERS, and BALD EAGLES, both adult and juvenile.

All told we had 48 species, not bad for a day the birds were mostly hunkered down to stay warm.

Phil Kelley
Lacey, WA
scrubjay323 at q.com<mailto:scrubjay323 at q.com>