Hi Tweets,

Barbara and I spent most of the day yesterday at Nisqually Refuge, finding most of the winter birds and just a couple of early spring arrivals. The weather was breezy, with temps in the 40s and broken clouds with occasional sprinkles. We walked to the Twin Barns, then east to the dike trail and walked the entire circuit. Afterward we made a quick dash out to Wenzel Slough Rd in an attempt to find the Slaty-backed Gull, but couldn't find it in a small flock of gulls from Keys Rd. At Nisqually we located 54 species for the day, not including an accipiter that got past us before we could identify it. We didn't find the Sandhill Crane that had been seen a couple of days ago.

Pied-billed Grebe -- 4
Horned Grebe -- 2 (Nisqually Reach & outer McAllister Creek)
Double-crested Cormorant -- 4
Great Blue Heron -- 3
Greater White-fronted Goose (with Canada Geese west of parking lot)
Cackling Goose -- 50
Canada Goose -- 1000+ -- (sent into the air en masse several times by Bald Eagles)
Wood Duck -- 4
Eurasian Wigeon -- 4
American Wigeon -- 300+
Gadwall -- 6
Green-winged Teal -- 100+
Mallard -- 80
Northern Pintail -- 50
Northern Shoveler -- 20
Ring-necked Duck -- 3
Common Goldeneye -- 10 (Nisqually River and McAllister Creek)
Bufflehead -- 40
Hooded Merganser -- 2 (Headquarters pond)
Red-breasted Merganser -- 6 (Nisqually Reach and Luhr Beach)
Common Merganser -- 6 (Nisqually River and McAllister Creek)
Bald Eagle -- 3
Northern Harrier -- 4
accipiter species -- 1 near Refuge Headquarters
Red-tailed Hawk -- 4
Peregrine Falcon -- 1 (seen from north part of Dike Trail
American Coot -- 100
Killdeer -- 5
Mew Gull -- 4 sub-adults
Glaucous-winged Gull -- 10
Rock Pigeon -- 20
Great Horned Owl -- 2 owlets together away from the nest
Belted Kingfisher -- 1
Red-breasted Sapsucker -- 1
Downy Woodpecker -- 3
Northern Flicker -- 2
Tree Swallow -- 80 (seen and heard all around the refuge)
Violet-green Swallow -- 20 (near Refuge Headquarters)
Golden-crowned Kinglet -- 12 in two small flocks along the dike trail
Ruby-crowned Kinglet -- 10
Bewick's Wren -- 6
Marsh Wren -- 20
American Robin -- 50
Bushtit -- 12
Black-capped Chickadee -- 30
American Crow -- 20
Starling -- 50
Purple Finch -- 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler -- 20 (Audubon's and Myrtle forms seen)
Spotted Towhee -- 6
Song Sparrow -- 30
White-crowned Sparrow -- 3
Golden-crowned Sparrow -- 40
Dark-eyed Junco -- 4
Red-winged Blackbird -- 20

Good birding!

Barbara and Paul Webster
Seattle
paul.websterATcomcast.net