[Tweeters] Seeing double at Nisqually.

[Kenneth Brown]

Another disjointed day at Nisqually.  A cooler day than we've had lately, the weather was great.  The overcast in the morning made the light almost perfect.  Roughly 32 birders participated for the first walk.  By the time we got out on the dike to the beginning of the McCallister Creek boardwalk, most of the crowd had turned back and the tide was a -2.5 feet exposing acres of mostly barren mud.  Those that remained decided to repair to the Nisqually Bar and Grill for lunch and return and hour and a half later to take advantage of the flood tide.  Those that did were well rewarded with shorebird sightings and a previously unobserved Great Horned Owl.  I apologize for the length of this epistle, I made no attempt to consolidate the two lists generated.  They are as follows:
 
Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US
Aug 30, 2023 7:59 AM - 1:02 PM
Protocol: Traveling
3.15 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Wednesday Walk.  Morning clouds, 64-72° F and light northwest breeze at 3-5 knots. Tide ebbing fast to a -2.47-foot low water at 11:42 a.m.  Other than birds, we saw lots of Pacific chorus frogs, 2 mink, Columbian black-tailed deer, coyote, Harbor seal.
58 species (+2 other taxa)

Canada Goose  27
Wood Duck  4
American Wigeon  8
Mallard  7
Hooded Merganser  6
Common Merganser  2
Band-tailed Pigeon  2
Mourning Dove  2
Vaux's Swift  2
Anna's Hummingbird  2
Virginia Rail  1
Semipalmated Plover  8
Killdeer  1
Baird's Sandpiper  4
Least Sandpiper  42
Pectoral Sandpiper  1
Western Sandpiper  5
peep sp.  25
Wilson's Snipe  1
Greater Yellowlegs  3
Western/Glaucous-winged Gull  2
Double-crested Cormorant  3
Great Blue Heron  5
Northern Harrier  2
Cooper's Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  6
Red-breasted Sapsucker  1
American Kestrel  1
Merlin  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
Western Wood-Pewee  5
Willow Flycatcher  2
Warbling Vireo  3
American Crow  4
Black-capped Chickadee  26
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  11
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1
Purple Martin  2
Tree Swallow  2
Violet-green Swallow  36
Barn Swallow  95
Bushtit (Pacific)  18
Brown Creeper  1
Bewick's Wren  5
European Starling  65
Swainson's Thrush (Russet-backed)  6
American Robin  2
Cedar Waxwing  16
American Pipit  1
American Goldfinch  45
Savannah Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  13
Spotted Towhee  1
Red-winged Blackbird  18
Orange-crowned Warbler (lutescens)  1
Common Yellowthroat  18
Yellow Warbler  6
Black-throated Gray Warbler  1
Wilson's Warbler  3
Western Tanager  3

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S148571061
)
 
Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US
30 Aug, 2023 2:45 PM - 6:15 PM
Protocol: Traveling
4.48 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: Afternoon walk to catch the flood tide; a -2.5 foot low at noon rose to a +14.1-foot high water at 6:42 p.m. Mostly cloudy, WNW breeze at 3-8 knots and 70° F. Walked out to the end of the estuary boardwalk and returned along the east boardwalk loop.
40 species (+1 other taxa)
 
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 9
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) 1
American Wigeon (Mareca americana) 3
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 80
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) 1
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) 5
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) 1
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) 38 Nisqually Reach
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Feral Pigeon)) 4
Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola) 2 Vocalizing from the cattail marsh.
American Coot (Fulica americana) 2
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) 2
Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii) 7 * Flagged for high count: Counted 1x1
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) 105
Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri) 775 Estimated by 10x; birds on logs and high spots in estuary and surge plain
Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus) 1
Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus) 5
Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius) 1
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 35
California Gull (Larus californicus) 75
gull sp. (Larinae sp.) 550 Likely RBGU & CAGU
Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia) 1
Brandt's Cormorant (Urile penicillatus) 6 Nisqually Reach channel marker
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum) 240
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 90
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) 1
Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) 1
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 3
Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) 1
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) 2
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) 1
Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) 1
Common Raven (Corvus corax) 1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 66
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 140
Swainson's Thrush (Russet-backed) (Catharus ustulatus [ustulatus Group]) 1
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 15
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) 14
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 5
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 8
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) 2 Immature birds along estuary boardwalk
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) 7
 
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S148575458
 
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