Hi Tweets,

Seven of us enjoyed a beautiful day at the refuge, partly cloudy skies,
breezy, and occasional sprinkles with temperatures between 40-50 degrees
Fahrenheit.

Highlights of the day included an adult Great Horned Owl perched next to a
nest hole with an owlet peeking out intermittently, Rufous Hummingbirds, a
female Red-breasted Merganser walking on mudflats from tidal pool to tidal
pool hunting for fish, and breeding plumage Horned Grebe and Eared Grebe in
McAllister Creek.

The nest tree is located on the inside of the south east Twin Barns Board
Walk Loop Trail 100 feet north of the Riparian Overlook cut-off and 100 feet
off the trail in a large Y shaped Maple Tree in the right trunk
approximately 20 feet high. We also observed Brown Creepers working on a
nest in the left trunk of a Y shaped snag just east of the Old Nisqually
River Dike adjacent to the New Dike intersection.

On the Board Walk species seen were Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron,
Wood Duck, Mallard, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, Bald
Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Virginia Rail calling, Rock Dove, Downy Woodpecker,
Northern Flicker, Tree Swallow, Violet-green Swallow, Black-capped
Chickadee, Bewick?s Wren, Pacific Wren, Marsh Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet,
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, European Starling, Yellow-rumped
Warbler both Audubon and Myrtle subspecies, Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow,
Golden-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, and Red-winged Blackbird.

Along the new dike we saw Canada Geese, 800+ Cackling Geese, Gadwall,
American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, American Green-winged
Teal, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Barrow?s Goldeneye, Northern Harrier,
American Kestrel, American Coot, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs,
Glaucous-winged Gull, and American/Northwestern Crow.

Out on the New Board Walk additional species observed were Double-crested
Cormorant, Black Brant, Eurasian Wigeon, Dunlin, Mew Gull, Ring-billed Gull,
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull Hybrid (Olympic Gull), Belted Kingfisher, and
Pileated Woodpecker and Stellar?s Jay calling from across the creek.

Thanks to all the participants for the wonderful day and great spotting. We
saw 62 species for the day.

Good birding,
Shep Thorp
Browns Point
sthorp at theaec.com <mailto:sthorp at theaec.com>
253-370-3742