Thanks to Bill Shelmerdine for mentioning his visit to the Hawks Prairie
water treatment ponds. They are very close to my home and I enjoyed visiting
them today. I saw and heard House Wrens at two locations, saw 3 Mallard hens
with broods, two Pied-Billed Grebes, a female Western Tanager, a Red-winged
Blackbird nest with four eggs, an adult Bald Eagle, a quite a few other
birds. The highlight, though, was a Sora that foraged along the edge of the
trail, right out in the open, something I've never seen before. Not long
after watching the bird pecking around in submerged leaves, I heard another
Sore in the cattails not more than ten yards from me. A couple of pictures
of the Sora are on my Flickr site, here:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/29002564 at N08/4650690721/in/photostream/



Kelly McAllister

Olympia, Washington



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From: tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman2.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of bill
shelmerdine
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 5:48 AM
To: tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] Yesterday at Nisqually and Hawks Prairie



Greetings Tweeters,
I spent yesterday morning doing a quick pass through Nisqually and local
areas. Not too much shorebird activity, but a few new arrivals by my
accounting. First stop was the Hawks Prairie Water Treatment Ponds. This
is waterfowl not shorebird habitat but includes some interesting "upland
habitat" as well. At that stop I encountered my first House Wren of the
year and a few Chipping Sparrows. There is a lot of potential at this
location. Next stop was Luhr Beach, where first-of-year (FOY) Purple
Martins and large flocks of Brant were seen, no shorebirds though. The
Nisqually Refuge produced FOY Yellow Warblers and Sora as well as a few (but
not many) shorebirds. Shorebirds included Least Sandpiper (50); Western
Sandpiper (25); Short-billed Dowitcher (2+), and Lesser Yellowlegs (2, FOY).
Several species of waterfowl are present including White-fronted Geese (6)
and at least 60 Cackling Geese.
Cheers and good birding.

Bill Shelmerdine, Olympia
mailto: georn1 at hotmail.com

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