Tweets,

Today 14 of us braved nasty conditions to walk Nisqually. We had rain and
wind, lots of wind, and a bit of snow. It was not a pleasant day to be
out. There was 11.1 high tide at 9:45 with lots of ripples on the water.

Highlights included 2 juvenile GREAT HORNED OWLS, an AMERICAN BITTERN, and
the GREAT EGRET.

The OWLETS have moved away from the nest tree and were seen today inside
the boardwalk on The Nisqually river side. Best viewing was about 50 yards
from the juncture of the boardwalk from the twin barns. Both OWLETS were
close to tree trunks and pretty hunkered down. We did not see an adult but
I'm sure one was in the area.

The GREAT EGRET was seen flying south up McAllister Creek as we started up
the boardwalk and the BITTERN flushed from inside the boardwalk as we
approached the twin barns turn off. We also saw a couple of COLUMBIAN
BLACK-TAILED DEER yearlings in the same area.

While water levels are up, waterfowl numbers are down. We did manage to
see an EURASIAN WIGEON near the entrance road and had a pair of HOODED
MERGANZERS pitch into Leshi Slough near the start of the new dike.

For the day we saw 40 species with nothing new for the year. The only
mammals seen were the aforementioned deer.

Until next week when I hope the weather is better....

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