Hi Tweets!

6 of us met up in Fife today to head south for a field trip across Thurston County, we finished the day with 83 species, nearly all seen in Thurston (except for HOUSE SPARROW and OSPREY, only seen in Pierce). In summary, it was a great day for warblers (9!), not so great for vireos (0!), and it ended with a short walk at Nisqually where we picked up some good birds, including Pectoral Sandpiper.

We found our obligatory freeway birds as we entered Thurston County heading down I5 towards Mud Bay - ROCK PIGEON, CANADA GOOSE, EUROPEAN STARLING, VIOLET GREEN SWALLOW (or as my cell phone has been hearing and translating it - "By latrines follow"...), STELLER'S JAY, AMERICAN CROW and AMERICAN ROBIN. Arriving at Mud Bay we stopped to look over the gulls, finding RING-BILLED and GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS. North of the Bay, we heard singing from DARK-EYED JUNCO, HOUSE FINCH, PURPLE FINCH,SONG SPARROW, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK and AMERICAN ROBIN. South of the bridge, we saw TREE SWALLOWS using a nest box.

We drove down to the Blue Heron Bakery to park and walk for a bit, where we spent some time listening to a beautifully singing YELLOW WARBLER, also finding MALLARD, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, WILSON'S WARBLER, CEDAR WAXWING, and BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD.

Driving Delphi Road towards McLane Creek, we heard our first SAVANNAH SPARROWS of the day in the farm fields. At McLane Creek, we walked near the entrance, and then again near the beaver pond, and in an hour added GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, TOWNSEND'S, BLACK-THROATED GRAY AND WILSON'S WARBLERS, EVENING GROSBEAK, MARSH WREN, BROWN CREEPER, SPOTTED TOWHEE, SWAINSON'S THRUSH, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, PACIFIC WREN, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, RED-TAILED HAWK, AND RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. We also enjoyed great looks at BAND-TAILED PIGEON AND HAIRY WOODPECKER.

Continuing up Delphi Road, we turned on Waddell Creek Road to do some birding in Capitol Forest. Early on, we were able to pick up both ANNA'S and RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS. We made a stop early on at a clearcut when I thought I saw a Gray Jay flying from a tree near the road. It turned out to be an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER. We listened to several of these, and from this spot proceeded to find ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER, COMMON RAVEN, as well as more Evening Grosbeaks and Wilson's Warblers. This spot gave us some other big highlights, with a SOOTY GROUSE booming nearly constantly, a distant HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER, a cooperative HOUSE WREN (showing signs of nesting), and beautiful WESTERN TANAGERS.

Farther up the road, a TURKEY VULTURE was seen as we continued up to, and past the peak, looking for Hermit Warblers and Northern Pygmy Owls. We heard several Orange-crowned Warblers, Wilson's Warblers, VARIED THRUSH, and Golden-crowned Kinglet. At nearly 1:00, we finally called in a responsive HERMIT WARBLER which was heard well by many in the group, and seen by none. After the bird left, we decided to discontinue (for the day...) the attempts to see these birds, and continue down to Scatter Creek.

Near and at Scatter Creek, added EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE, NORTHERN FLICKER, WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, BARN SWALLOW, BREWER'S BLACKBIRD and BEWICK'S WREN. The best add of the day here was CHIPPING SPARROW - we worked hard to get good views of one, and then listened to a half dozen or more while walking through the beautiful prairie flowers, also finding Common Yellowthroat, Swainson's Thrush, Yellow Warbler, Hammond's Flycatcher and Western Tanager.

We finished the day at Nisqually NWR, where we added quite a few birds to end the day. We found 10 species of ducks (NORTHERN PINTAIL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, NORTHERN SHOVELER, CINNAMON TEAL, BLUE-WINGED TEAL, GADWALL, WOOD DUCK, RING-NECKED DUCK, HOODED MERGANSER and Mallard). All of these were found at the main pond, where we also heard PIED-BILLED GREBE, AMERICAN BITTERN and SORA, and interesting trio of sounds! Shorebird species in the pond were GREATER YELLOWLEGS and LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER. We found our first CLIFF SWALLOWS of the day, GREAT BLUE HERONS, BALD EAGLES and CASPIAN TERNS. Swainson's Thrushes were singing at 6PM as we were getting ready to leave.

On the way out, we stopped to peek at the slough along the exit/entrance road, and found KILLDEER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, and a pair of PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, which others may have seen from the dike trail earlier. It was nice to be able to see the Pectorals alongside the Spotted for size, and they had a clearly delineated breast. Nice views of a nice species to end the day!

Happy birding!

-Tim Brennan
Renton