Subject: [Tweeters] Nisqually Wed afternoon: Ruff, etc
Date: Oct 5 18:16:23 2011
From: Paul Hicks - phicks at accessgrace.org
Tweets, After seeing Marv's and Shep's posts for the RUFF I checked
Nisqually about a half-hour after high tide, around 2:30 to 4:15 on
Wednesday, with helpful tips from Carol Schultz whom I met in the parking
lot. The bird was hanging out with plovers and peeps outside the new dike
trail behind the barns about 6 blocks before the new boardwalk, beyond where
the slough passes under the dike. I saw the other species previously
reported except for the L Yellowlegs (apparently looking in wrong place),
plus an OSPREY being half-heartedly harassed by an eagle, one MEW GULL and
what I believe to be 3 THAYER'S GULLS - they looked very much like the two
3-c birds I saw recently at the Franklin's Gull site on Commencement Bay.
The GREAT EGRET was nearby most of the while, and I also saw a short-billed
WESTERN-looking sandpiper, too far for any definitive ID but with the chunky
structure I was certainly hoping for SEMI-PALMATED. A PERIGRINE was
semi-actively pursuing the shorebirds, at one point perching in one of the
small dead-looking trees submerged out in the tidal water practically in the
middle of the shorebirds. A bold SHARP-SHINNED HAWK was hanging around
behind the barns, last seen perched atop the new-dike snag closest to the
river-dike trail. The weather was deteriorating the entire time so
passerines were not active. I'm still drying out. Good birding!
-- Paul Hicks / Tenino / phicks AT accessgrace.org