Subject: [Tweeters] Nisqually NWR 12/16/09
Date: Dec 17 17:12:02 2009
From: scrubjay323 at aol.com - scrubjay323 at aol.com


Tweets,

Yesterday 15 of us braved rainy, windy conditions for our weekly walk at
Nisqually and do our monthly bird survey. We got rained on pretty hard and
we got blown around a bit on the new dike but it could have been worse.

Waterfowl were the story of the day! We had thousands of them throughout
the refuge, starting with 2000+ CACKLING GEESE heading across I-5 to feed
in the fields as we arrived, to hundreds of AMERICAN WIGEON, NORTHERN
PINTAIL, and GREEN-WINGED TEAL on the ponds in the interior of the refuge. we
also had MALLARDS, NORTHERN SHOVLERS, a few GADWALL and a couple of EURASIAN
WIGEON thrown in. There were a half dozen HOODED MERGANSERS on the pond
behind the visitor center and some COMMON GOLDENEYE on the Nisqually River.

Raptors were another highlight. We saw BALD EAGLES, RED-TAILED HAWKS,
NORTHERN HARRIERS, a PEREGRINE FALCON, an AMERICAN KESTRAL, and a COOPER'S
HAWK. Lots of action with the HARRIERS and BALD EAGLES flying back and forth.

The highlight of the day was seeing 2 AMERICAN BITTERN near the new dike
behind the twin barns. We got good looks at both of them, both flying and
foraging along the ditches.

Passerine numbers were way down with nothing unusual seen.

All told we saw 40 species for the day. Nothing new for the year was seen
so we still have 147 species for the year.

The only mammal seen was a BLACK-TAILED DEER.

Until next week.....


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