Tweets,

Yesterday 32 of us enjoyed a great day at Nisqually! The weather warmed quickly and the birds cooperated. We had a -1.6 low tide at 1:59 Pnm so lots of mud in the reclamation are.

Migration is in full swing with lots of new birds on the refuge. We spent over an hour covering the riparian area across from the visitor center. We had several WILSON'S WARBLERS and WARBLING VIREOS as well as both CHICKADEES,BUSHTITS, a DOWNEY WOODPECKER, and FOY BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE. Later we saw and heard YELLOW WARBLER and scads of COMMON YELLOWTHROAT.

Water levels are low in most of the freshwater ponds and waterfowl numbers are down, but a nice variety of birds still remain. We still have the 7 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE about and saw WOOD DUCKS, HOODED MERGAMSERS, and CINNAMON TEAL out behind the twin barns.

Also in that area were LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, and a LESSER YELLOWLEGS. VAUX'S SWIFTS mingled with the SWALLOWS flying over the area..

For the day I had 53 species and now have 102 for the year.

Until next week......

Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at aol.com
Lacey, WA