This morning with two friends, I visited Nisqually Wildlife Refuge for
the first time since the new boardwalk opened, and it did not disappoint
although I think the wind chill factor on the estuary must have been
minus something!

At the pond below the overlook, we saw a pair of Mallards, 3 Canadian
Geese, three Bufflehead, two Red-winged Blackbirds that enchanted us by
calling over and over from high in the trees, and Song Sparrow that
shared the platform with us.

While walking the old boardwalk, we were joined by a young woman who was
obviously an experienced birder and pointed out several species to us
that we would have missed otherwise. Along that walk and walking
across the Estuary later, we saw (not in this order): 73 Western
Canadian Geese and 6 Cackling Canadian Geese (that we could positively
identify as such; might have been more), a beautiful and elusive
Eurasian Wigeon, 30 American Wigeons, 14 more Mallards, 30 Northern
Shovelers, a beautiful pair of Hooded Mergansers (gliding serenely on
the water?a life bird for all of us), 4 Great Blue Heron, 2 Bald Eagles
that flew around overhead for most of our visit, innumerable Gulls
(mostly Glaucous-winged, we thought), 12 Terns, a Downey Woodpecker, 6
Crows, 4 Black-capped Chickade (hanging upside down on thin branches
near the walk), a Brown Creeper, 3 Robins, a Spotted Towhee, a Fox
Sparrow, six (at least) more Song Sparrows, and six Golden Crowned
Sparrows.

And we heard what sounded like a Kingfisher several times, but we could
not spot him. Also, along the waterfront were three raccoons and many
squirrels with long, gray bushy tails.

I did report our sightings to the Great Backyard Bird Count. My actual
?backyard? count was sent yesterday. I hope all of you participated in
the count, too.

Darlene
Cinebar