Hi Tweets,

My apologies for the delay. Attempted to send summary with ebird attachment, unfortunately too big to pass. Here is the summary from 10/20:

Another fabulous day at Nisqually NWR as 16 if us enjoyed a very birdy day.? Initially foggy and 40 degrees, the weather partially cleared and warmed up to the 50?s.? We also bumped into some familiar birders and regulars who we?ve not seen in sometime, which was a welcome sight.? Cacklers were abundant in very large numbers, as we surveyed the species for Aleutian and other sub species we saw one particular Cackler with a white anterior neck from the collar region cranially to the throat, anomaly or hybrid?? We speculated anomaly.? I was overwhelmed by the number of Greater White-fronted Geese, over 100, and our active discussion of Tundra, Taiga/Tule etc? clearly we need to do some research to help us with this puzzle.? Perhaps with Phil Kelley?s guidance and tutorship returning next week, we?ll improve our ability to evaluate ?the gaggle.?? With many eyes and ears we had a high species count of 67!? The highlight for many was a Yellow-headed Blackbird, a first for the year, initially seen by Matt Kizer.? While he backtracked to confirm, the bird flushed over the entire group with many ?oohs? and ?ahs.?? We also saw Wilson Snipe, Northern Shrike, Sharp-shinned Hawk and probable Cowbird.? The refuge has lots of waterfowl, so it?s a great time to visit.? We hope the new boardwalk, which extends off the new dike, will be open in December.? Visitors will be able to walk out to the first covered station regardless of hunting season.? We anticipate the entire new boardwalk being open by the end of hunting season.? Progress on refuge projects can be seen at <http://www.nisquallydeltarestoration.org/> , and <http://www.fws.gov/nisqually/> .? Until next week, when the leader of our gaggle returns!?

Good birding,

Shep Thorp
Browns Point
sthorp at theaec.com
253-370-3742
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