Tweets,

Today was survey day at Nisqually so we split up into three groups to cove
the refuge. My group did the normal south dike and twin barns boardwalk.
The weather was cold but clear to start and we had an 11:3 high tide at
1:00. Needless to say we had lots of mud early. 34 of us did the walk today.

The highlight of the day was an adult and a juvenile GREAT HORNED OWL.
They were both inside the boardwalk opposite where the nest tree is. The
adult was on the low branch on the left side of the tree where it has been
seen for the last 10 days or so. The juvenile was higher up in the same tree
on the right side of the tree. Interestingly enough there was a RED-TAILED
HAWK not far from where the juvenile sat. I think the nearby adult kept
old Red at bay.

It really was a pretty quiet day with low numbers of waterfowl in evidence.
We did pick up a couple of NORTHER SHRIKE as well as BALD EAGLES, NORTHERN
HARRIERS and PEREGRINE FALCON at the Nisqually River overlook. We did
not see any shorebirds on the interior of the refuge and passerines were few.

We did see both KINGLETS, both CHICKADEES, a couple of YELLOW-RUMPED
WARBLERS and a VARIED THRUSH among the ROBINS in the orchard but other than that
it was pretty slow.

For the day I had 37 species with nothing new for the year. Mammals seen
were EASTERN GRAY SQUIRRELS and a COYOTE as I was leaving the refuge.

Until next week.....

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