Tweets,

Our last walk of the year had 18 participants and the rain held off until almost 1 o'clock! We had a 7.9 low tide at 10:36 am so we had lots of mud on the surge plain.

Highlights included numerous BALD EAGLES, GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, and more BROWN CREEPERS than I've ever seen on the refuge before.

The salmon run must be underway because there were over 30 BALD EAGLES on the refuge. some in the tree line along the Nisqually River and others on snags or on the ground in the reclamation area. There also were several RED-TAILED HAWKS and NORTHERN HARRIERS about. No wonder we didn't see a PEREGRINE today,

There were lots of ducks on the refuge and all the ponds held some. We did spot a EURASIAN WIGEON on the back of the pond across from the parking lot. The GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE were in the grass to the left of that pond except for one that we saw mixed in with some CACKLING GEESE inside the new dike.

We saw several passerines including a flock of BUSHTITS and at least 12 BROWN CREEPERS through the riparian area. They seemed to be everywhere.

The NORTHERN SHRIKE made an appearance behind the twin barns viewing platform and we all got good looks. First sightings of him in several weeks.

For the day I saw 47 species giving me a total of 138 species for the year.

Mammals seen were MINK and HARBOR SEAL.

Until next Wednesday when we begin a new year.....Happy New Year and Good Birding.

Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at aol.com
Lacey, WA