I was "South" today so decided to take a run to
Nisqually in the afternoon. It was overcast and
threatening but no rain and several brief sun
breaks. Neither I nor any of the birders (many) I
talked to saw any of the Great Horned owls ... a
disappointment and the tide was wrong for
shorebirds and I was scopeless (and some might add
"clueless") so I did not look for shorebirds.
There were many birds however, mostly swallows and
warblers with a few each of a number of duck
species (Cinnamon Teal, Mallard, Gadwall, Am.
Wigeon, Ring Necked, Bufflehead, Hooded
Mergansers, Wood Ducks, Shovelers and Pintails).
The Visitor Center was literally covered with
Swallows, primarily the nesting Cliff Swallows,
but also a number of Tree, Northern Rough Winged,
and Barn. Elsewhere the Tree Swallows were the
most numerous, but there were hundreds of swallows
all over the place.

On the WOS Yakima trip earlier this month it
seemed that every warbler (and there were many)
was a Yellow Rumped. So too at Nisqually but with
to times the numbers. I counted more than twenty
in each of several different trees and there were
many more with 2 to ten. I would wager that there
were easily several hundred (both forms) at the
REfuge along the Twin Barns loop trail. But there
were other warbler species as well. I did not
find the earlier reported Nashvilles but did find
at least one (probably two) brightly colored male
Yellow Warblers, a single Townsend's Warbler, and
numerous Common Yellowthroats . I thought I saw a
Wilson's flash by but never found it again so will
leave it as a "maybe". The omnipresence of the
Yellow Rumps, many singing away, was incredible.

Also seen were at least 5 Rufous Hummingbirds, a
Bittern fly-by, and a very cooperative (as in
posing) immature Red Tail.