Tweeters,

Six of us took on the warm weather today (Saturday) for a Seattle Audubon
field trip to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. To keep us in the shady side of the
refuge during the hotter part of the day, we started toward McAllister Creek
(Mc creek) early on, then backtracked and headed toward the twin barns, and
thence along the Nisqually River.



Highlights included great views of many birds, including VIRGINIA RAIL; an
overhead, then diving-past-us WILSON'S SNIPE; two families of COMMON
MERGANSERS with two and 16 young respectively; CASPIAN TERN at Mc creek; a
burble from a PURPLE MARTIN along the river; a juvenile BAND-TAILED PIGEON;
two BROWN CREEPERS; PINE SISKIN; and a female AMERICAN GOLDFINCH laying
waste to a tent caterpillar "tent."



In addition to the birds, we saw a muskrat, harbor seal (river), and a
turtle at what appeared to be a nest hole on the dike at Mc creek.



The 49 bird species we saw included the following:

Wood Duck

Mallard

Common Merganser

Great Blue Heron

Turkey Vulture (3 near the refuge center)

Bald Eagle (2 young at the Mc creek nest)

Red-tailed Hawk

Virginia Rail

Killdeer (many just before Mc creek)

Spotted Sandpiper

Glaucous-winged Gull

Caspian Tern

Rock Pigeon (I)

Band-tailed Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Rufous Hummingbird

Downy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Western Wood-Pewee

Willow Flycatcher

Pacific-slope Flycatcher

Warbling Vireo

American Crow

Purple Martin

Tree Swallow

Violet-green Swallow

N. Rough-winged Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Barn Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Bushtit

Brown Creeper

Bewick's Wren

Marsh Wren

Swainson's Thrush

American Robin

European Starling (I)

Cedar Waxwing

Yellow Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Spotted Towhee

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Black-headed Grosbeak

Red-winged Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

Purple Finch

Pine Siskin

American Goldfinch



May all your birds be identified,



Denis DeSilvis

Roy, WA

Mailto: avnacrs4birds at q.com