Tweets,

Its hard to believe that September is here already but it is. Today 15 of
us enjoyed a quick, quiet walk at Nisqually. Quiet except for the sounds
of heavy machinery working on new cross dikes to better control the water
levels in the freshwater pond inside the new dike.

Not sure if we had any highlights but we did see an adult and juvenile
PIED-BILLED GREBE on the pond behind the visitor center. Love the striped
"football helmet" of the juvenile. There were also YELLOW and a
BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER in the area. We saw a few more YELLOW WARBLERS in the
riparian areas but not much else.

Water is almost gone inside the dike so waterfowl numbers were way down. We
did spot some MALLARDS, WOOD DUCKS, a couple of SHOVELERS and AMERICAN
WIGEON but that was it. More CANADA GEESE seem to arrive each week. No
CACKLERS yet.

It was good to see a couple of NORTHER HARRIERS back. Some of the fields
have been hayed so they can find pray again. We also saw RED-TAILED HAWK,
BALD EAGLES and a COOPERS HAWK that landed in the big doug fir that the
PEREGRINE roost in during the winter.

The only shorebirds I saw were in the wetlands at the entrance road as I
was leaving the refuge at 11:30. There were KILLDEER and WESTERN
SANDPIPERS. Since there is no place to safely pull off the road I didn't get he
chance to really scan the area.

All told we saw 42 species today with nothing new for the year.

Mammals seen were EASTERN GRAY SQUIRREL, COLUMBIAN BLACK-TAILED DEER, and
HARBOR SEALS chasing SALMON in the Nisqually River.

Until next week...

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