Tweets,

Today 32 of us enjoyed a frigid walk at Nisqually. It was 24 degrees at 8:00 when we met and it didn't get much warmer. The breeze picked up when we got out on the dike and the estuary boardwalk but we were too engrossed in a couple of birds to notice much. We had a 14.8 high tide at 9:27 so we hustled out to the boardwalk to get some good views and boy did we ever.

The second best bird of the day was a KUMLIEN'S ICELAND GULL out in the reclamation area roosting with some RING-BILLED GULLS and MEW GULLS. The bird was notable by is pale primaries and yellow eye and slightly larger size. It posed for quite some time before moving off as the tide dropped.

The best bird of the day is one that I still don't know what it is. It was a duck out in McAllister Creek seen from the first viewing platform associating with some COMMON GOLDENEYE. This duck was basically black and white. It had a white body throat, chin and face with a black mohawk the ran from the base of the bill over the top of the head, down the back of the neck where it connected to a black back. It had a short stubby black bill and a wide head. It was a real baffler. I hope some of the photos taken will lead to a positive ID.

Other notable sightings included a intergrade AMERICAN/EURASIAN WIGEON, GREAT HORNED OWL on the nest, and an early TREE SWALLOW behind the visitor center about noon.

For the day I had 49 species and now have 72 for the year. The only mammal I saw was a BLACK-TAILED DEER inside the boardwalk near the beaver dam.

Until next week, when I hope for warmer temperatures......

Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at aol.com
Lacey, WA