Tweets,

Yesterday we enjoyed a great walk at Nisqually under mostly sunny skies. It
seemed slow for a spring day but we wound up with 68 species. We had a 2.4
foot low tide at 9:39 AM

Highlights included first of the year VAUX'S SWIFTS, VIRGINIA RAIL and
SORA, as well as a MERLIN and SHARP-SHINNED HAWK.

We got off to a good start with COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS
and nesting CLIFF SWALLOWS at the visitor center. As we were about to
start the walk 5 WOOD DUCKS, a female and 4 males, flew in and landed on the
pond.

It seemed quiet in the riparian area on the way to the twin barns but we
saw YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, a WILSON'S WARBLER, lots
of ROBINS and SWALLOWS. The VAUX'S SWIFTS made their first fly by here.

At the twin barns we got better looks at the SWIFTS as they mingled with
the TREE, VIOLET-GREEN, and CLIFF SWALLOWS. We saw BARN and NORTHERN
ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS over the pond near the access road earlier in the day.

Waterfowl numbers are way down with mostly nesting pairs about. We did see
EURASIAN WIGEON from the twin barns.

The VIRGINIA RAIL and SORA were heard and seen near the start of the new
boardwalk and the MERLIN was seen in the same area pushing a small flock of
shorebirds.

What seemed like a slow day turned out pretty good.

Until next week....

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