Tweeters,



Note: Because the refuge is closing the outer walkways after the first
weekend in May, the "normal" Wednesday group walk next week, April 29th,
will be a full-looper instead of the usual shorter route. This will be the
last full-loop trip for most of us.



Cold weather, but hot birding at Nisqually Refuge today for the dozen of us
that showed -- with most of us wearing gloves for the bulk of the time
there. We had our own shorebird "festival," with GREATER and LESSER
YELLOWLEGS, SOLITARY and LEAST SANDPIPERS, DUNLIN, and WILSON'S SNIPE. Every
major watering hole had GREATER YELLOWLEGS (GRYE), and I'd guess we saw at
least 50 of them scattered all over the refuge, with the bulk of the numbers
in the pond to the north of the trail to McAllister (Mc) Creek, near the
parking lot. Too, that's where we saw the LEAST SANDPIPERS, which were
nicely posed next to a GRYE, which gave a good comparison. The three
SOLITARY SANDPIPERS were all at the new watering area to the southwest of
the parking lot - west of the visitor's center. They were indeed solitary,
except each seemed to be teamed up with a GRYE. LEAST SANDPIPERS (LESA) were
feeding en masse in the big pond, but were also scattered in other areas.
I'd hazard that 500 LESA was on the low side of the count. A few DUNLIN,
most in breeding plumage, were close to the barns, feeding in deeper water
than the LESAs. Two WILSON SNIPE passed overhead, close together and
calling, about half-way along the trail to Mc Creek.



CINNAMON TEAL were in and very visible at several areas along the trail to
Mc Creek. At the big pond, and visible from the overlook at the barns, were
27 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. Rounding out the waterfowl were CACKLING and
CANADA GEESE, several pairs of WOOD DUCKS, GADWALL, AMERICAN WIGEON,
MALLARD, NORTHERN SHOVELER (seemingly as numerous as ever - along with the
GREEN-WINGED TEAL), NORTHERN PINTAIL,

RING-NECKED DUCK, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON GOLDENEYE, HOODED MERGANSER, and COMMON
MERGANSER. One female Hoodie near the visitor center gave us a demonstration
on how large a fish it could swallow: huge for the size of the bird!



Interesting to note that most of the YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS we saw, well
over 20, were the MYRTLE subspecies.



Altogether today we saw 57 species, with Solitary Sandpiper, Least
Sandpiper, Cinnamon Teal, and Wilson Snipe being new for the year. (I think
- Phil Kelly keeps the list, and he was out of town.)



For those who keep such records, here's the complete listing:

Greater White-fronted Goose

Cackling Goose

Canada Goose

Wood Duck

Gadwall

American Wigeon

Mallard

Cinnamon Teal

Northern Shoveler

Northern Pintail

Green-winged Teal

Ring-necked Duck

Bufflehead

Common Goldeneye

Hooded Merganser

Common Merganser

American Bittern

Great Blue Heron

Bald Eagle

Red-tailed Hawk

American Coot

Killdeer

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Solitary Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Dunlin

Wilson's Snipe

Glaucous-winged Gull

Rock Pigeon (I)

Great Horned Owl

Rufous Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Downy Woodpecker

American Crow

Tree Swallow

Violet-green Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Barn Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Bushtit

Bewick's Wren

Marsh Wren

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

American Robin

European Starling (I)

Orange-crowned Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

House Finch

Pine Siskin

American Goldfinch



Mammals included muskrat (brief glimpse), some sort of mouse, and Eastern
Gray Squirrel. One of the latter was actually a yellow-headed eastern gray
squirrel subspecies: it had obviously been partaking of bigleaf maple
flowers and was quite covered with pollen.



May all your birds be identified,



Denis DeSilvis

Roy, WA

Mailto: avnacrs4birds at q.com