Thursday was a beautiful day in so many ways. Left home when it was
about 65 and overcast to drive to Centralia (about 40 miles) and join
friends for a trip to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge and a walk out to
the end of the boardwalk for a picnic. The sun came out about 11 and
warmed us up while we watched the birds and other wildlife, including a
tiny green frog and a slightly larger olive/brown one, a lovely light
brown rabbit whose ears glowed red in the sunlight, an old whiskered
squirrel, and even a seal (or something) diving in the channel.

Among other birds, we watched several Great Blue Herons--one that caught
two fish, ate one and spit the other much larger one back. We saw 2
Harriers doing a complex, beautiful, and prolonged aerial ballet; took
pictures of a Great Egret with its reflection, turning from side to side
as if he were posing; and an amazingly beautiful jellyfish that was
stranded when the tide went out. There was a little group of sandpipers
that included Least and Western and what a nearby photographer guessed
were Pectorals. And there were some smaller shore birds that I think
could have been Sanderlings, but I am not certain of that either.

Also saw song sparrows, yellow warblers, a wren I could not identify, a
female Wood Duck and a female Mallard, two Bald Eagles flying over, and
Canadian Geese.

First time I have been there that I did saw neither Bittern nor swallows
nor Cedar Waxwings.

Darlene
Cinebar