Hi Tweeters,

Forty five of us enjoyed another beautiful and fairly productive walk at Nisqually today. We had birders from as far away as Montana, Massachusetts and Germany. Nathanael led most of the group all the way to the end of the estuary boardwalk, while some of us returned early along the riverside of the boardwalk loop.

Low tide of 0' 3" was at 9:30am, so the tide was way out when we got to the dike.

Overall activity seemed a bit slow, although we did come across a mixed flock early along the board walk loop; and the estuary group had some good shorebirds. Below are the highlights followed by Nathanael's eBird list.

Sightings at visitor center included WOOD DUCK, CEDAR WAXWING, PIED-BILLED GREBE, NORTHERN FLICKER, BEWICK'S WREN. As we walked along the parking lot we had WARBLING VIREO, WILSON'S WARBLER, and an OSPREY flyover over towards McAllister Creek. Near the McAllister Creek gate there were several SAVANNAH SPARROW.

The westside of the boardwalk loop was very active in places. As we approached the first set of benches there was a mixed flock of DOWNY WOODPECKER, BROWN CREEPER, WARBLING VIREO, BEWICK'S WREN, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT and a flock of around twenty BUSHTITS We also had YELLOW WARBLER, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, SWAINSON'S THRUSH, WILLOW FLYCATCHER, VIRGINIA RAIL and flyovers of KILLDEER and EVENING GROSBEAK.

At the twin barns overlook we had great looks at a COOPER'S HAWK flying over the grassy areas. Some later folks in the group also had a WESTERN SCRUB JAY.

As we started down the dike, we heard a GREEN HERON call off to the left. Near the start of the boardwalk there were LEAST SANDPIPER, WESTERN SANDPIPER, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, AND BAIRD'S SANDPIPER. Both SORA and VIRGINIA RAIL were seen along the freshwater area inside the dike. The AMERICAN KESTREL was also seen from the dike trail.

Sightings from the estuary boardwalk included COMMON MERGANSER, CASPIAN TERN, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, one BRANDT'S CORMORANT, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, GREATER AND LESSER YELLOWLEGS, and LONG-BILLED CURLEW.

The return along the riverside of the boardwalk loop was pretty slow, but we did have BROWN CREEPER, DARKED-EYED JUNCO AND WOOD DUCK.

Total species was 67.

Until next week when Phil and Shep return.

Eric Slagle
Olympia


> eBird Report - Nisqually NWR, Aug 26, 2015
>
> Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US
> Aug 26, 2015 7:50 AM - 1:40 PM
> Protocol: Traveling
> 4.2 mile(s)
> Comments: <br />Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 1.0.0 Build 2
> 67 species (+4 other taxa)
>
> Canada Goose 400
> Wood Duck 2
> Gadwall 2
> Mallard 380
> Blue-winged/Cinnamon Teal 2
> Northern Pintail 76
> Hooded Merganser 2
> Common Merganser 25
> Pied-billed Grebe 2
> Brandt's Cormorant 1
> Double-crested Cormorant 200
> Great Blue Heron 80
> Green Heron 1
> Osprey 3
> Cooper's Hawk 1
> Bald Eagle 8
> Virginia Rail 1
> Sora 2
> Killdeer 20
> Spotted Sandpiper 1
> Greater Yellowlegs 3
> Lesser Yellowlegs 1
> Long-billed Curlew 2 Continuing birds at puget sound overlook. Long bill.
> Baird's Sandpiper 4
> Least Sandpiper 50
> Semipalmated Sandpiper 2
> Western Sandpiper 10
> Ring-billed Gull 100
> Western Gull 2
> Glaucous-winged Gull 15
> Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 2
> Caspian Tern 20
> Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 4
> Anna's Hummingbird 1
> hummingbird sp. 1
> Belted Kingfisher 3
> Downy Woodpecker 5
> Hairy Woodpecker 1
> Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 2
> American Kestrel 1
> Peregrine Falcon 1
> Western Wood-Pewee 1
> Willow Flycatcher 6
> Warbling Vireo 3
> Steller's Jay 1
> American/Northwestern Crow 10
> Purple Martin 1
> Tree Swallow 1
> Barn Swallow 200
> Black-capped Chickadee 35
> Chestnut-backed Chickadee 3
> Bushtit (Pacific) 15
> Brown Creeper 8
> Marsh Wren 3
> Bewick's Wren 4
> Swainson's Thrush 6
> American Robin 5
> European Starling 400
> Cedar Waxwing 15
> Common Yellowthroat 15
> Yellow Warbler 1
> Wilson's Warbler 2
> Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 2
> White-crowned Sparrow (pugetensis) 25
> Savannah Sparrow 12
> Song Sparrow 20
> Black-headed Grosbeak 1
> Red-winged Blackbird 4
> Brown-headed Cowbird 6
> American Goldfinch 15
> Evening Grosbeak 3
>
> View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24769556
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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