Tweets,

Today 31 of us enjoyed a great walk at Nisqually. It was dry and in the mid to upper 40s with no wind to speak of. We had a 7.2 ft low tide at 11:52.

Highlights included all 3 MERGANSERS, an AMERICAN BITTERN in flight, and a hybrid AMERICAN/EURASIAN WIGEON.

We got off to a good start with a WILSON'S SNIPE behind the visitor center along with GADWALL, RING-NECKED DUCKS, PIED-BILLED GREBE, and HOODED MERGANSER.

Later we added MALLARD, NORTHERN SHOVELER, NORTHERN PINTAIL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, LESSER SCAUP, and COMMON GOLDENEYE. There were RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS on McAllister Creek and COMMON MERGANSERS on the Nisqually River. We spotted the hybrid WIGEON on the pond inside the new dike. It looked like a washed out EURASIAN WIGEON with the green eye patch of an AMERICAN WIGEON.

At the start of the boardwalk we had a small mixed flock that included BLACK-CAPPED and CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, BROWN CREEPER, and SONG SPARROW. Back at the visitor center at 12:30 were a few YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS hawking insects over the pond.

We had 5 NORTHERN HARRIERS in the air at one time and we saw several RED-TAILED HAWKS and BALD EAGLES, a PEREGRINE FALCON, and one, possibly two, COOPER'S HAWKS, one near the orchard and the other out toward McAllister Creek.

For the day I saw 41 species and now have 54 for the year.

Mammals seen were MUSKRAT and HARBOR SEAL. We also had a turtle pulled up on a tuft of grass sunning itself.

Until next week.....

Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at aol.com
Lacey, WA