Tweets,

Today 34 of us enjoyed a great day at Nisqually once the rain stopped about 8:45 or so. The only thing was the tide. We had a 0.8 low at 11:45 so all we had was mud off the new boardwalk, but that didn't stop folks from seeing good birds out there. I made it to the first pavilion before turning back. As you saw with Michael's pictures there was a GREATER YELLOWLEGS along McAllister Creek. There were also reports of an unusual TERN out on the Sound. Shep and others were checking that report out.

Highlights included WARBLING VIREOS, a GREAT EGRET, PEREGRINE FALCON, COOPER'S HAWK, and a couple of mixed flocks that were great.

At the visitor center we saw the first mixed flock that included BUSHTITS, YELLOW WARBLERS and BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE. This flock was across the pond so it was a challenge to see everything. We also picked up CERAS WAXWINGS and BARN SWALLOWS.

Along the boardwalk to the twin barns we saw a couple more mixed flocks that included BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS, WARBLING VIREO, YELLOW WARBLERS, SWAINSON'S THRUSH, and DOWNEY WOODPECKER. Later on that side we picked up ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, SONG SPARROW, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, and MARSH WREN. There were also a couple of ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS in the area.

For the day I think we saw more WARBLING VIREOS than SONG SPARROWS.

Waterfowl numbers were way down as is most of the water levels. Young birds/birds in molt made ID a challenge.

We saw a good cross section of raptors that included RED-TAILED HAWK, NORTHERN HARRIER, COOPER'S HAWK, and PEREGRINE FALCON. All except the RED-TAIL were in the reclamation area over the mud flats. The GREAT EGRET was out along McAllister Creek toward the end of the boardwalk.

For the day I had 51 species and now have 131 for the year. Shep will put his ebird report on and add whatever they saw out toward the sound.

Mammals seen were 5 COLUMBIAN BLACK-TAILED DEER.

Until next week....

Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at aol.com