Subject: [Tweeters] Fwd: Nisqually NWR 3/25/15
Date: Mar 25 20:09:58 2015
From: scrubjay323 at aol.com - scrubjay323 at aol.com






-----Original Message-----
From: scrubjay323 <scrubjay323 at aol.com>
To: tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.ed>; glynnis_nakai <glynnis_nakai at fws.gov>; Marian_Bailey <Marian_Bailey at fws.gov>; scrubjay323 <scrubjay323 at aol.com>
Sent: Wed, Mar 25, 2015 8:08 pm
Subject: Nisqually NWR 3/25/15



Tweets,



Today 26 of us dealt with initial bad weather and otherwise enjoyed a good day at Nisqually. We had a 13.1 high tide at 9:38 and it god breezy out on the estuary dike and boardwalk.



Highlights included a crazy MINK, 4 GREAT HORNED OWLS, and a hybrid AMERICAN'EURASIAN WIGEON.



We had lots of waterfowl today as there was water everywhere. All the freshwater ponds were full and we had dropping water on the saltwater side. Our intergrade WIGEON was seen from the twin barns overlook. It had the gray back of a EURASIAN WIGEON with the green eye markings of an AMERICAN WIGEON and then had a reddish nape and back of the head. Very striking bird that provided good looks for all. We also had a MALLARD that had a white chest with black smudges on it.



The crazy MINK was seen on the boardwalk to the twin barns. It zig zaged back and forth running toward us before it dove into the slough just before it got to us. We've seen a MINK in this area before, just not acting like a broken field runner on the boardwalk.



The early crowd was lucky to see all four GREAT HORNED OWLS in the same area. An adult and both juveniles were inside the boardwalk as viewed from the spot where the tree crashed over the boardwalk late last year. The two juveniles were perched side by side on a fairly open branch and the adult was near by next to a tree. As we watched them, about noon time, the second adult flew in as if to check things out and then dropped down and flew off.



Many birds are singing and setting up territories and pairing up. There is a COMMON YELLOWTHROAT near the start of the boardwalk and MARSH WREN and SONG SPARROWS are very vocal. SAVANNAH SPARROWS were heard and there are lots of TREE and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS about with a few NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS thrown in.



For the day I had 55 species and now have 89 for the year. Besides the MINK the only other mammal I saw was a COTTON-TAILED RABBIT.



Until next week.....



Phil Kelley

scrubjay323 at aol.com

Lacey, WA