Tweets,

Yesterday 25 (or so) of us enjoyed a great day at Nisqually. It was an
overcast, cold day but at least it was dry and there was no wind. Out target
bird, however, did not cooperate. The SNOWYOWL was seen by some of us, but
from the Luhr Beach area well out toward the mouth of the Nisqually River at
the extreme Northeast corner of the refuge.

High tide was a 12.8 at 2:29 pm so most of our walk was at low tide. We
saw lots of mud, but we did see DUNLIN, WESTERN and LEAST SANDPIPERS, and a
couple of GREATER YELLOWLEGS out off the new boardwalk. A GREAT EGRET was
also seen in the reclamation area and a SNOW GOOSE flew up McAllister Creek
and hung out with some CANADA GEESE near the twin barns.

There were plenty of raptors about including 15+ BALD EAGLES, RED-TAILED
HAWKS, NORTHERN HARRIERS, PEREGRINE FALCONS, and a COOPER'S HAWK.

We watched an AMERICAN BITTERN catch a couple of small fish near the
boardwalk on the way to the twin barns and our friend the EGRET caught a large
sculpin that a GREAT BLUE HERON tried, unsuccessfully, to steal. Interesting
interaction between the two birds.

Water levels are down the last couple of week so waterfowl were more
scattered. We did see 3 EURASIAN WIGEON throughout the day as well as HORNED
GREBES, COMMON LOONS and COMMON MERGANZERS off the new boardwalk.

For the day we saw 57 species with nothing new for the year. Mammals seen
were a COYOTE, HARBOR SEALS and a RIVER OTTER in McAllister Creek.

Until next week when we do the monthly survey....



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