Tweets,

Yesterday 20 of us started out at 8:00 am under overcast skies that were
covered with VAUX'S SWIFT and SWALLOWS and 2 of us finished at 2:00 pm in the
rain. Lots of great birds were seen by all but the weather steadily
worsened as we went along.

The willows along the boardwalk were so birdy that it took us almost 2
hours to reach the twin barns, a distance of less than half a mile.
Passerines are here and there are still some waterfowl about.

Highlights included YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, BLUE-WINGED TEAL, lots of
WARBLERS, and our GREAT EGRET.

The VAUX'S SWIFT convention continues just about anywhere there is water.
In addition we also had the 5 usual SWALLOWS throughout the refuge. The
best views we had wree of the NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS out at the twin
barns overlook. They were flying low over the slough allowing us great
views from above.

We had CINNAMON, BLUE-WINGED, and GREEN-WINGED TEAL as well as lots of
GADWALL on the interior ponds as well as MALLARDS and SHOVELERS. On Tuesday I
saw 2 pair of CANADA GEESE with goslings.

Shorebirds seen were DUNLIN, WESTERN SANDPIPER, LEAST SANDPIPER, and
SEMIPALMATED PLOVER. We heard but did not see GREATER YELLOWLEGS.

We spotted 2 YELLOW -HEADED BLACKBIRDS from the twin barns overlook. One
appeared to be a first year bird with the yellow not quite covering the back
of its head. One was on a bush along the slough and the other was out
over the pond inside the new dike.

Matt and I got good up close looks at the GREAT EGRET and it appeared as if
its upper legs were scraped and there was a faint yellowish tint where the
scrapes were. The lower legs were jet black and the upper legs a lighter
black except where the scrapes were. Interesting.

Warblers seen included YELLOW, YELLOW-RUMPED, ORANGE-CROWNED, COMMON YELLOW
THROAT, and WILSON'S. And there were lots of each. A couple of folks
saw a male WESTERN TANAGER but it eluded most of us.

The only raptors seen were BALD EAGLE and AMERICAN KESTRAL. Tuesday I saw
a NORTHERN HARRIER being harassed by 3 CROWS and a RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD.
The BLACKBIRD was the most persistent.

For the day we had 60 species with BLUE-WINGED TEAL, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER,
and YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD being new for the year. We now have 121
species for the year.

Mammals seen were RACCOON, COTTON-TAILED RABBITT, EASTERN GRAY SQUIRREL and
COLUMBIAN BLACK-TAILED DEER.

Until next week....

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