Tweets,

Yesterday 16 of us walked the refuge prior to the survey that Shep Thorp reported on ebird. It was cold and overcast, but not very windy. High tide was 14.5 at 12:29 PM.

Almost all the water on the interior ponds was frozen except behind the visitor center where we had the best sighting of the day at 8:00 AM..an American Beaver! There were 2 of them lazily swimming around the open area of the pond before they exited stage right. There was fresh beaver activity on the back of the pond with fresh cuttings.

Also on the pond were CACKLING GEESE, MALLARDS, GADWALL, AMERICAN WIGEON, HOODED MERGANZERS, and LESSER SCAUP.

At the orchard we had AMERICAN ROBIN, VARIED THRUSH, NORTHERN FLICKER and INTERGRADE FLICKER, GOLDEN CROWNED SPARROWS, SONG SPARROWS, PACIFIC WREN, and BROWN CREEPER.

Along the boardwalk we found SPOTTED TOWHEE, FOX SPARROW, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, and BEWICK'S WREN. The NORTHERN SHRIKE was seen from the twin barns overlook.

BALD EAGLES and RED-TAILED HAWKS were numerous and we had a PEREGRINE FALCON later ion the day. There were several NORTHERN HARRIERS hunting the grasslands.

Additional waterfowl seen in the surge plain and on the rivers included AMERICAN COOT, BUFFLEHEAD, NORTHERN SHOVELER, NORTHERN PINTAIL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, and COMMON MERGANSER.

As we neared the end of the walk we encountered another mixed flock that included DOWNEY WOODPECKER and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET in addition to previously seen species.

For the day we saw 44 species with LESSER SCAUP being new for the year. Mammals seen were BEAVER and MUSKRAT.

Until next week........


Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at aol.com
Lacey, WA