Tweets,

Yesterday 40 of us enjoyed a great day at Nisqually. We had cool temps and
a light breeze and the birds were active. We did a shorter walk than usual
so species numbers were down. There was a 12.9 high tide at 7:45 so lots of
mud in the reclamation area.

We started at the visitor center with BAND-TAILED PIGEONS and a female
HOODED MERGANSER with 9 young. As we headed out to the twin barns we heard
lots of YELLOW WARBLERS ands WARBLING VIREO. We didn't see many of these
birds due to the thick foliage. We found a couple of RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS
and heard/saw WILLOW FLYCATCHERS and WESTERN WOOD PEEWEE.

The only other waterfowl seen were MALLARDS, more HOODED MERGANSERS, and a
male BLUE-WINGED TEAL inside the estuary dike. VIRGINIA RAIL was also heard
in this area.

Not sure what was going on in Shannon Slough but there was a lot of gull
activity up toward the freeway. From the start of the estuary boardwalk
there was 15+ CASPIAN TERNS and 50+ RING BILLED GULLS with a couple of
GLOUCOUS-WINGED GULLS thrown in. Adult BALD EAGLES overhead got this flock
up and a pair of EAGLES chased one of the gulls that eventually escaped.

I did see 3 COMMON MERGANSERS on the Nisqually River and we found an active
BUSHTIT nest near the woodland trail junction.

For the day I had 40 species with the BAND-TAILED PIGEONS being new for the
year giving me136 species for the year.

Until next week......

Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at gmail.com
Lacey, WA
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