Tweets,

Today was a good news, bad news type of day. The good news? The new
boardwalk is now open at Nisqually along the McAllister Creek dike foot print.
The bad news? It took us almost 3 hours to cover just the new boardwalk!!
It was fantastic to get views of McAllister Creek and the Sound for the
first time since the old dike was removed.

Highlights were many, most from the new dike. From it we saw HORNED
GREBE, EARED GREBE, RED-THROATED LOON, LEAST SANDPIPERS, LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS,
AND SURF SCOTERS. And the tide was out so we missed some other birds seen
Monday or yesterday afternoon.

As Ruth Sullivan mentioned the boardwalk is really a wonder. Very well
built with a smooth walking surface and excellent viewing opportunities. It
is high enough above the water to afford excellent views, much better than
from ground level. It will be fun to walk it once a month.

Other birds seen included all 3 MERGANSER species, PEREGRINE FALCON,
AMERICAN KESTRAL, BALD EAGLE, RED-TAILED HAWK, and NORTHERN HARRIER. We also
saw an adult NORTHERN SHRIKE out in the reclamation area.

At the visitor center at the start of the walk we had a VIRGINIA RAIL and
some of the folks saw 2 more out along the new dike. There also were 2
AMERICAN BITTERN inside the boardwalk on the way to the twin barns.

For the day we saw 64 species with 7 species being new for the year. We now
have 80 species for the year. Notable misses were the GREAT EGRET and the
HERMIT THRUSH.

Mammals seen were a confused COLUMBIAN BLACK-TAILED DEER that swam across
McAllister Creek only to see all the people on the new boardwalk. I guess
it was too much for the deer as it decided to swim back across the Creek
where it disappeared into the hills.

Until next week when were do the monthly bird survey...

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