Tweets,

Today nine of us enjoyed a nice walk at Nisqually under cloudy, cool
conditions. It was a bit breezy when we started and the birds were not very
cooperative.

The highlight of the day was Eric spotting a VIRGINIA RAIL in a pond on the
left of the trail to McAllister Creek about 200 yards short of the creek. We
couldn't figure out why these 2 birds were scurrying around in the open, but
we found out as we returned toward the visitor center from McAllister Creek.


The VIRGINIA RAILS were again out in the open but this time we spotted a
couple of "lumps of charcoal" darting into the reeds, then another one...and
another one...and one more. We had a pair of adults and five infant VIRGINIA
RAILS! That, ladies and gentleman, was the highlight of the year so far.

Nothing else unusual except for scads of YELLOW WARBLERS and CEDAR WAXWINGS
just about everywhere.

Mammals seen included COTTONTAIL RABBIT, COLUMBIAN BLACK-TAILED DEER, a
RIVER OTTER out near McAllister Creek, and a MINK near the twin barns. The MINK
made several trips across the boardwalk carrying something in its mouth from
left to right over the trail. We never got a good look at what it was but
opinion went from robbing a bird's nest to carrying young to a new nest area.

All in all we saw 42 species for the day with nothing new for the year.

Next week we will walk the full loop as we should be on an incoming tide.

Until then....

Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at aol.com
Lacey, WA
360-459-1499




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