Hi Tweets,

17 of us enjoyed a beautiful day at the Refuge with temperatures in the 60's
degrees Fahrenheit, partly cloudy skies, and a low -0.8" tide at 9:53am.

Meeting at the Visitor Center at 8am, we started off with a very birdy
morning with great looks at Green Heron and American Bittern. Many juvenile
Violet Green Swallows were perched on snags as well Cliff Swallow and Barn
Swallow flying around. Willow Flycatcher and Western Wood-Pewee were easily
heard in the vicinity. We also observed Wilson's Warbler, Common
Yellowthroat, Purple Finch, Cedar Waxwing. Western Scrub Jay was seen along
the entrance road.

Along the Access Road Fields, we observed White-crowned Sparrow, Savannah
Sparrow and many American Goldfinch all with juveniles. Song Sparrow and
Brown-headed Cowbird were also seen.

On the Twin Barns Boardwalk Loop Trail we were very fortunate to see three
Green Herons at the same time, two were juveniles with streaked neck/breast
and scaled mantle. We observed two Spotted Sandpipers foraging on lily pads
and 11 juvenile Wood Ducks feeding and roosting. Between the first overlook
on the Twin Barns Boardwalk Loop Trail and the cut off for the Twin Barns we
picked up Black-capped Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Downy Woodpecker, Yellow
Warbler, Warbling Vireo and had great looks at Western Wood-Pewee.

>From the Twin Barns Overlook we saw Belted Kingfisher, Canada Goose, Spotted
Towhee, Tree Swallow, Killdeer, Orange-crowned Warbler and a terrific Bald
Eagle fly over.

Out on the New Dike, in the brackish surge plain north of the restored
riparian area, we saw good numbers of peeps. Based on their plump
silhouettes, behavior of feeding along the waters edge of the mud plain, and
light appearance in flight, we presumed we were observing Western
Sandpipers. Two Greater Yellowlegs provided close up views at the head of
Leschi Slough which runs parallel to the New Dike just west of the Access
Road and water level gauge. We observed two teal with Mallards that had
dark plain faces, dark bills and steep foreheads leading us to think they
were Blue-winged Teal. Many Wilson's Snipe were observed out in the open,
feeding, preening and roosting. We were extremely lucky to see two juvenile
Sora and an adult Virginia Rail. In the vicinity of the first look out
shelter of the New Estuarine Boardwalk, we observed seven Long-billed
Dowitchers (rounded or plump silhouettes) in the southwestern freshwater
area, and Great Blue Heron, Northern Roughed-winged Swallow, Ring-billed
Gull, and Caspian Tern in the tidally influenced (salt water) area. We also
saw Marsh Wren, juvenile Hooded Merganser, and Red-winged Blackbird.

On our return to the Visitor Center, we picked up Bewick's Wren and Mourning
Dove with additional good looks of Purple Finch, Willow Flycatcher, Western
Wood-Pewee and Yellow Warbler. We continue to struggle with the
differentiation of Willow Flycatcher and Western Wood-Pewee with juvenile
birds that don't vocalize. Pewee's tend to return more frequently to the
same perch, have a darker throat, and a longer primary wing projection
beyond tertials.

Mammals seen include Columbia Black-tailed Deer, Gray Squirrel, River Otter,
and Raccoon. 55 species for the day, nothing new for our year total of 153
species.

Until next week, when Phil will return to lead the walk,

Good Birding,

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