Another good day at Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Weather was moderate, neither cold nor warm, overcast but no wind to speak of. We had a good size group of 31 birders of mixed experience. We took our "standard route", starting at the Visitor Center then touring the orchard, and the flooded fields south and west of the access road. Next was the west half of the loop trail, where we saw a Musk Rat swimming in the pond, and crossed paths with a Mink at the turn off to the Twin Barn overlook. Two Northern Rough-wing Swallows were actively feeding young in their unusual nest cavity in a large Big-leaf Maple near the Twin Barns. Out on the dike, the pair of Black-necked Stilts seem to be sticking around, apparently nesting within sight of the dike road. There was a lot of visible mud as we had an unusually large tidal swing (19.2'), from -4.4 feet low to + 14.8 feet high. We reached the Puget Sound viewing platform at the end of the boardwalk at low tide so water was more distant than usual and we could see few birds. The oyster beds at Luhr Beach were exposed and a few human opportunists were helping themselves. We dipped on Brant's Cormorants and all the shorebirds. It began to rain after we were back on the dike and we finished the west half of the loop quicker than is typical. The list follows.

Jun 15, 2022 8:14 AM - 2:56 PM
Protocol: Traveling
5.77 mile(s)
64 species (+2 other taxa)

Cackling Goose 1 With flock of Canada's. Smaller, darker with short bill and short neck.
Canada Goose 85
Wood Duck 11
Blue-winged Teal 1
Cinnamon Teal 3
Northern Shoveler 2
Mallard 30
Common Goldeneye 1 Single flyover.
Hooded Merganser 24
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 8
Band-tailed Pigeon 5
Mourning Dove 2
Anna's Hummingbird 1
Rufous Hummingbird 3
Virginia Rail 2
Sora 3
Black-necked Stilt 2 Appear to be nesting in the freshwater marsh.
Killdeer 1
Wilson's Snipe 1
Ring-billed Gull 35
California Gull 30
Glaucous-winged Gull 2
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 5
gull sp. 50
Caspian Tern 28
Double-crested Cormorant 113 counted individually, several flocks of 20 - 40.
Great Blue Heron 1
Bald Eagle 24
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Belted Kingfisher 4
Red-breasted Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2
Western Wood-Pewee 5
Willow Flycatcher 9
Warbling Vireo 2
Steller's Jay 1
American Crow 8
Black-capped Chickadee 7
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 5
Tree Swallow 50
Violet-green Swallow 5
Bank Swallow 4
Barn Swallow 50
Cliff Swallow 75
Brown Creeper 5
Marsh Wren 6
Bewick's Wren 1
European Starling 25
Swainson's Thrush 30
American Robin 18
Cedar Waxwing 45
Purple Finch 2
American Goldfinch 36
Savannah Sparrow 7
Song Sparrow 30
Spotted Towhee 2
Red-winged Blackbird 35
Brown-headed Cowbird 20
Common Yellowthroat 25
Yellow Warbler 40
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Black-headed Grosbeak 8

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S113016980
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)