Tweets,

Today 40 of us enjoyed a great day at Nisqually. It was chilly and damp at
the start of the walk and we decided to alter our route and go through the
woods first in search of the owls seen last week. We missed on those but
found a NORTHERN SAW-WHIT OWL near the twin barns.

We had a 12.8 high tide at 1:19 PM so we hit the incoming tide just right
for shorebirds, too.

Other highlights included a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK and AMERICAN PIPET along the
new dike. We also had a 5 woodpecker day before we got to the twin barns.

We started in the orchard where we had FLICKER, DOWNEY WOODPECKER, and
PILIATED WOODPECKER, along with kinglets and chickadees. At the pond across
from the orchard we found KILLDEER and a WILSON'S SNIPE. Along the
boardwalk on the Nisqually side we picked up RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER and
HAIRY WOODPECKER.

After we spent considerable time with the SAW-WHIT OWL just at the start of
the boardwalk to the twin barns overlook about 10:30 we continued on out to
the estuary boardwalk. Along the dike we saw BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, GREATER
YELLOWLEGS, DUNLIN, and WESTERN SANDPIPERS.

Also out in the reclamation area we saw PEREGRINE FALCON, NORTHERN HARRIER,
RED-TAILED HAWK, BALD EAGLE, and the ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. It did not appear
to be a good day to be a prey species. The PEREGRINE FALCON had a very full
crop.

For the day I had 52 species and, as usual, did not see everything some of
the others saw. The ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, SAW-WHIT OWL and PIPIT were new to
the year for me giving me 144 species for the year.

The only mammal I saw was a BLACK-TAILED DEER. There were several GARTER
SNAKES that we saw that seemed unusual for this time of year.

Just a reminder: hunting season is open and the last 700 feet of the
estuary boardwalk is closed until the end of January.

Until next week....

Phil Kelley
Lacey, WA
scrubjay323 at gmail.com
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