[Tweeters] Wednesday Walk at Nisqually. 6/15/2022

[Kenneth Brown]

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)
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