Subject: [Tweeters] Nisqually NWR 1/30/13
Date: Jan 31 08:49:14 2013
From: Scrubjay323 at aol.com - Scrubjay323 at aol.com


Tweets,

Yesterday 20 or so of us walked Nisqually under less than ideal
conditions. While the temps hit the upper 40s, the rain made it pretty
uncomfortable. Out on the dike the wind picked up and it got down right cold! We had a
14.10 high tide at 7:45 AM so we had lots of mud to look at in the
reclamation area.

The best birds of the day were seen by the early birds and the late arriv
al. Shep and JC went to the twin barns early looking for the BARN OWLS, but
missed them. The did see a GREAT HORNED OWL fly into the woods near the
freshwater wetlands overlook. We could not relocate the bird later in the
day. Jerry Broadus arrived later and spotted a BARRED OWL just right of the
visitor center heading out along the Nisqually River side. Again, later
attempts to relocate the bird proved futile.

Other highlights included AMERICAN BITTERN, NORTHERN SHRIKE, and several
pairs of HOODED MERGANSERS. Water levels are high but waterfowl numbers are
still low. There was a large flock of DUNLIN out in the reclamation area.

With the salmon run in the Nisqually River being down the number of BALD
EAGLES on the refuge is lower than it was last year but there are still
several about. Other raptors seen included RED-TAILED HAWK, NORTHER HARRIER, and
PEREGRINE FALCON.

We spotted a NORTHERN SHRIKE in the trees along the boardwalk out toward
the twin barns and spent some time with it near the twin barns and along the
start of the dike. No wonder we didn't see many sparrows along the dike.
We did see a WESTERN MEADOWLARK near the slough, not far from where the
SHRIKE was.

The majority of the group did not walk the new boardwalk so we missed a lot
of what Shep saw out there. I saw 41 species for the day and now have 60
for the year.

Mammals seen were OPOSSUM, EASTERN GRAY SQUIRREL and a HARBOR SEAL in the
Nisqually River.

Until next week.....



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