Late this afternoon the parking lot at Nisqually NWR had a dozen or so cars
which was a great start. Remember in the "old'dn" days when there were times
you could walk the whole place and never see another person? I headed out past
the barn hoping to have some quiet time with the yellow headed blackbirds but
they weren't there. I did find the mamma hooded merganser and her flotilla
though. As of tonight she still has 10 chicks left out to the original 13.
They aren't diving yet but are feeding with their heads in the water and are at
least three times their size when I first saw them a week and a half ago or so.
The ponds are drying up fast so I hope mamma has a back up place to move them
to. Maybe they will come over to the visitors center pond to learn to fish.
Lots of other baby ducks and geese in various stages and the cinnamon teal pair
was right against the shore

On the way back I had a close encounter with a very curious Swanson's thrush on
the boardwalk between the barn and they river side of the trail. I stood very
still and it kept hopping closer and closer until he was eight feet away and I
no longer needed my bino's. Bird and human studied each other for several
minutes before he hopped under the railing into the brush then flew away. You
can't do that on a weekend. Someone will come along and the bird will fly
away.


My big bird moment happened at 6:30 PM around fifty feet after I turned back
toward the parking lot on the river side of the boardwalk. I heard several
birds in panic mode in a maple tree on the barn side just off the path. I
finally found a trio of male robins among the leaves having a hissey fit and
looking around for the culprit I discovered one of the great horned owls
crouching, very much like a cat that is being intimidated, on a large limb right
below the robins. Just as I got the bino's on the owl it had had enough and
flushed. Through the glasses it looked like it was headed right at me. I jumped
back and jerked the bino's down as the owl swooped across the path at eye
level. Our eyes met briefly from just a few feet away at the crossing as he/she
floated through the trees toward the river with the robins in hot pursuit. Not
a life bird but a life moment.


I've read that no one has seen the owl family for awhile so I can report that
Nisqually still has at least one great horned owl living in that same area.
Score that round for the robins but nightime cometh.....

Ray Holden
Olympia