Tweets,

Wednesday morning 44 of us enjoyed a nice walk at Nisqually. The weather
was great and the critters cooperated. We had great hopes of seeing the
LAZULI BUNTING Shep had seen the day before while he was leading a Seattle
Audubon field trip...and we weren't disappointed. We had an incoming tide of
9.3 ft at 1:15 pm.

Mammals were the hit of the day with LONG-TAILED WEASAL, MINK, COLUMBIAN
BLACK-TAILED DEER, COYOTE, BUNNY RABBIT (a quote), and EASTERN GRAY SQUIRREL
being seen.

Still, the LAZULI BUNTING was the highlight of the day. We were on the
twin barns overlook searching the fields and low shrubs when one of the
ladies in the group asked "what's that blue bird out there?" Scopes and bins
all looked toward the brush at the far edge of the slough and there he was.
We had all had good looks as the BUNTING foraged and called from the top of
several small bushes and a willow tree. Later some of the group got good
views of both the male and a female LAZULI BUNTING. It made for great
viewing.

Not much else unusual was seen although the folks who walked the new
boardwalk did see several WESTERN SANDPIPERS and 80+ GREAT BLUE HERON.

For the day we had 42 species giving me a total of 126 for the year.

The number of species of mammals seen was by far the highest number for
the year.

Until next week when Shep and Eric will lead....



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