Subject: [Tweeters] Nisqually NWR 7/3/13
Date: Jul 3 18:56:48 2013
From: scrubjay323 at aol.com - scrubjay323 at aol.com



Tweets,

Today 18 of us enjoyed a gorgeous day at Nisqually. It was warm and sunny...and fairly birdy early on. We walked counter clockwise for a change and had lots of action early. we had a -0.9 tide at 1:40 so all we had was mud out on the estuarine boardwalk.

Highlights included both YELLOWLEGS side by side and a couple of VIRGINIA RAILS.

Flycatchers were everywhere with WILLOWS being the most common but we did pick up WESTERN WOOD PEEWEE and PACIFIC SLOPE FLYCATCHERS. COMMON YELLOWTHROAT were calling by hiding for the most part.

We picked up surprising numbers of waterfowl considering how low the ponds were. Almost all we saw was out toward the new boardwalk. Sightings included GREEN-WINGED, CINNAMON, and BLUE-WINGED TEAL, MALLARDS with chicks, WOOD DUCKS and HOODED MERGANSER with chicks, and an AMERICAN COOT with chicks, strange little red-headed creatures, a joy to see.

It was in this pond that we saw the YELLOWLEGS. There were 4 GREATER YELLOWLEGS dispersed throughout the pond and one LESSER YELLOWLEGS the was associating with one of the GREATERS giving great comparative looks. We also saw and heard VIRGINIA RAIL NEAR THE START OF THE NEW BOARDWALK

For the day I had 44 species with nothing new for the year.

Mammals seen were EASTER GRAY SQUIRREL and COTTONTAIL RABBITT.

Until next week when Shep and Eric will lead...

Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at aol.com