Tweeters:



Nine?of us lucked?out on the weather.? We had?lots of sunshine and another great day at the refuge.?? Sightings at the visitor center included:??PEREGRINE FALCON,? pair of HOODED MERGANSERS, BELTED KINGFISHER,? FOX SPARROW, and RED-TAILED HAWK.? There were also hundreds of CANADA GEESE (mostly CACKLING) flying over the refuge.



The walk around the parking lot gave us looks at RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, NORTHERN PINTAIL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, AMERICAN WIGEON, NORTHERN SHOVELER; and a flyover by the PEREGRINE; and?a NORTHERN FLICKER calling from behind the parking lot.? ?Looking down the McAllister Creek trail we saw a GREAT BLUE HERON and a pair of NORTHERN HARRIERS.?



The highlight of the?day, and something that none in the group had seen before, happened a short distance down the boardwalk.? A PEREGRINE FALCON was eating what appeared to be a duck (could not tell for sure?at this point).? A RED-TAILED HAWK swooped in?and took over the meal as the falcon darted away but?then briefly came back and took a dive at the hawk.? The hawk took off with the duck; and a NORTHERN HARRIER that?had been sitting nearby watching all this action flew over to enjoy the leftovers.? We watched as the harrier lifted?the?severed?head?of? a male GREEN-WINGED TEAL up off the ground.? A BALD EAGLE flew over and everything in the wetland area became airborne.??



As we continued down the boardwalk, Shep spotted a GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE in a flock of CANADAS.??? There were several new sightings in the pond on the east side of the boardwalk, including BEWICK'S WREN, PIED-BILLED GREBE, RING-NECKED DUCK and SPOTTED TOWHEE.? Shep and Matt also spotted a second?PEREGRINE FALCON, and identified it as a TUNDRA variant.



New birds for the day at the twin barns and the cross over boardwalk:? DOWNY WOODPECKER, flock of CEDAR WAXWINGS, and RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER.? There were several BROWN CREEPERS and GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS near the river overlook.? It got quieter on the?remainder of the walk,?but Andy picked up a CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE.? Several WINTER WRENS were also either seen or heard.



Total species for the day:? 36



Mammals seen:? harbor seal at the river overlook





Eric Slagle, Olympia

hannaslagle at comcast.net