The "rabbits" have been there since the early 70's. I really don't know it what he saw now is the same rabbits that I used to see there. At one time, it was popular to introduce the European brown hair for sports purposes in the san Juan islands. The WDFW had little interest in worrying about introduced species that were popular to hunters, since they were busy introducing their own species of birds, fish and even some goat moving. I honestly don't recall is those rabbits are hares or rabbits. Anyone know what they really are?
Clarence C. Lupo
Onalaska, WA.

----- Original Message -----
From: Kelly McAllister
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2008 5:52 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] A post about Thurston/Mason birds


Here's a post I was asked to forward to Tweeters. It's from David Griffin, wildlife biologist and birder from Las Cruces, New Mexico (I wanna go there).

I'm going to respond about the bunnies at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, though I'm not really sure how they've managed to survive there for so long. I saw domestic rabbits on the refuge quite a few years ago and thought it not so appropriate for a wildlife refuge. So, about all I can say is that domestic rabbits have been there for a long time and, no, they're not wild all over Thurston County, just at the refuge, pretty much.

He put together a good list on his visit. I'll probably say that the murrelets were most likely Marbled Murrelet which, despite being listed "Threatened" species, are more common in south Puget Sound than Ancient Murrelets. I haven't heard anybody report any Ancient Murrelets in central or south Puget Sound this winter. Anybody been lookin'?

Kelly McAllister
Olympia, Washington

My names is David Griffin, I'm a wildlife biologist living in Las
Cruces, NM. My wife and I were recently visiting her parents on Harstine
Island, Mason County, Washington. I'm not a subscriber to the "Tweeters"
bird listserve, and so was hoping to find someone to post my
observations. Kelly, I regularly see your name and postings in the
archives.

I was in the area from Feb 6 to Feb 12 and was staying on the east side
of Harstine Island (more southerly end) and made observations daily on
beach walks, inland areas, and on my in-laws' property. My wife and I
also spent a nice day on Feb 10 at Nisqually NWR (no rain!), where we
walked the 5.5 mi loop trail.

I'm not too keen on which species might be unusual or noteworthy for the
area, but was impressed by a Greater white-fronted goose, Eurasian
wigeon, Peregrine falcon, Tree swallow (early?), and a few others...
I've pasted my complete lists below.

Also; what's the deal with domestic rabbits at Nisqually? Our first
'wildlife' observation as we left the visitor center was that of a
dusky-gray domestic rabbit in a low grassy area. Are these
common/widespread in the area? Is there a program to remove them?
Hopefully we're not the first ones to observe this species???? When I
worked for the USFWS on refuges, we wouldn't allow something like that
to persist...is there some special circumstance at Nisqaully?

Thanks for any help with this and feel free to contact me if you have
any questions.

David


David J. Griffin -- President, Mesilla Valley Audubon Society
Wildlife Biologist
Griffin Biological Services
2311 Webb Road
Las Cruces, NM 88012
1-575-382-2080
GriffinBio at gmail.com

BIRDS OF HARSTINE ISLAND, MASON COUNTY, WASHINGTON, USA
February 6-11, 2008. List compiled by David and Tricia Griffin
Common loon
Pacific loon
Red-throated loon
Western grebe
Horned grebe
Eared grebe
Double-crested cormorant
Pelagic cormorant
Great blue heron
Canada goose
Mallard
Green-winged teal
American wigeon
Eurasian wigeon (in-laws' property, one male with approx. 70 American
wigeon at freshwater creek daily)
Northern pintail
Greater scaup
Lesser scaup
White-winged scoter
Surf scoter
Barrow's goldeneye (one female with Common goldeneyes)
Common goldeneye
Bufflehead
Common merganser
Red-breasted merganser
Hooded merganser (male and female at Wilson Point)
Killdeer
Spotted sandpiper
Ring-billed gull
Mew gull
Herring gull
Pigeon guillemot
Murrelet species (most likely Ancient murrelet?)
Bald eagle (two adults and one immature almost daily)
Red-tailed hawk
Peregrine falcon (first bird of trip! Perched on top of cedar tree in
in-laws' yard!)
Mourning dove
Belted kingfisher
Northern flicker
Pileated woodpecker (in-laws' property heard only)
Steller's jay
Northwestern crow
American crow
Chestnut-backed chickadee
Winter wren (singing Feb 6th)
Bewick's wren
Golden-crowned kinglet
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Varied thrush
American robin
European starling
Orange-crowned warbler
Spotted towhee
Song sparrow (started to sing on Feb 6th)
Dark-eyed junco ('Oregon' race)
Fox sparrow
Pine siskin (flock of 30-50 almost daily)

BIRDS OF NISQUALLY NWR, THURSTON COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Feb 10, 2008. List compiled by David and Tricia Griffin
Pied-billed grebe
Western grebe
Double-crested cormorant
Great blue heron
Greater white-fronted goose (one with small group of Canada geese near
trail head/visitor center)
Canada goose
Mallard
Green-winged teal
American wigeon
Northern shoveler
Northern pintail
Ring-necked duck
Common goldeneye
Bufflehead
Dunlin (large flock at west edge of mud flats; a "cloud" of birds)
Mew gull
Herring gull
Bald eagle (two adults)
Red-tailed hawk
American kestrel (male in snag near Nisqually River/at point where
boardwalk splits from levee road)
Rock pigeon
American coot
Downy woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker (observed fresh workings only; north of where
boardwalk splits from levee road near Nisqually River)
American crow
Tree swallow (one adult foraging/flying over photo blind near McAllister
Creek - west side of loop trail; early migrant?)
Back-capped chickadee
Bushtit
Marsh wren
Golden-crowned kinglet
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Varied thrush
American robin
European starling
Yellow-rumped warbler
Spotted towhee
Song sparrow
White-crowned sparrow
Golden-crowned sparrow
Red-winged blackbird (one male flying over photo blind/McAllister Creek
side)




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