Greetings Tweeters,

Sunday, November 1 I made a brief trip to Nisqually around noon. I only had a couple of hours, and mainly went to check out the access situation and the new restoration. I started with what I thought would be a quick drive through the fields on the other side of I-5 (Nisqually Cut-off Rd). As it turns out this is where most of the action was. I took about 30 minutes to pour over the large blackbird flock that has assembeled in the pumpkin fields. There were several hundred birds present and I'm sure I did not see all of them well. In the masses there was a male Yellow-headed Blackbird. Moving on there was an impressive flock of Cackling Geese, I estimated well over 3000 birds. In the group were at least 6 Snow Geese and 2 Greater WHite-fronted Geese. Moving on to the refuge, I only had enough time to take a quick trip to the viewing platform at Twin Barns, which is as far as one can go at this point. Refuge staff indicated that the new inner dike area will be accessible for walking in a few weeks. Our only noteworthy species at the barns were a distant Northern Shrike and a Kestral.

Cheers and good birding,

Bill Shelmerdine, Olympia

mailto: georn1 at hotmail.com

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