Subject: [Tweeters] Glaucous Gull-1 January at Nisqually NWR
Date: Jan 6 20:06:46 2012
From: Andy Stepniewski - steppie at nwinfo.net


NISQUALLY NWR

1 JANUARY 2012



Ellen and I kicked off the New Year at Nisqually NWR. We spent much of the
day there, from 9:30 am to 4:15 pm, seeing 71 species. It was a good day,
indeed. One highlight was 60 Bald Eagles along the lowermost Nisqually
River, feasting on Chum Salmon, apparently the latest run on that river.
Another was a very close, I mean very close (less than seven feet!) study of
an American Bittern, along the boardwalk. Another was 1000 Dunlins (and a
handful of Western and Least Sandpipers) roosting at high tide on downed
trees out on the estuary boardwalk. These provided a great interpretive
opportunity as most walkers had no idea what these birds were. Another good
bird was a Pileated Woodpecker working a tall Black Cottonwood. Yet another
was an adult Peregrine Falcon strafing scads of ducks on the pools. Finally,
(whew), a Great Egret, in residence here for some time, lurked in a slough.
A wildlife spectacle that we tend to get blas? about was the many hundreds
of Cackling Geese (with one Snow), Eurasian Wigeons, and piles of other
waterfowl.



Towards late afternoon we headed to Luhr Beach to look for the SNOWY OWL,
not visible from the boardwalk. We could see this beautiful bird, though it
was distant. Also visible was a 1ST-year GLAUCOUS GULL out on the mudflats.



Nisqually is a deservedly popular gem!



Andy and Ellen Stepniewski

Wapato WA

steppie at nwinfo.net