[Tweeters] another Wednesday at Nisqually.

[Kenneth Brown via Tweeters]

It was cool and clear this autumn day, the first scheduled walk after the time change and the election.  Some of us felt a bit disoriented by those shifts in our reality.  A flock of Bushtits flitting through the brush adjacent to the Visitor Center deck where we assemble, a pair of Ravens calling as they passed overhead, Mallards and American Wigeon on the pond, brought our attention to the physical world.  One of the many benefits of birding.
 
Deni found a Townsend's Warbler among the Kinglet crowd in the Alders in the parking lot as we started out.  Two Red-breasted Sapsuckers were pecking away industriously in the orchard "play area" seeming oblivious to the sound of gas-powered weed-eaters distracting us. Out on the entrance road, two Swans headed south overhead, Chickadees and Kinglets danced in the trees and a perched Anna's Hummingbird shown gold in the bright morning sun.
 
Wilson's Snipe were once again in the flooded field south of the bend in the access road, a trio of Greater White-fronted Geese flew south over the Canada Geese foraging on the south side of the pond.  Five Killdeer flushed and flew west.  Further north, west of the road, 6 Snow geese hung together in the midst of 1200 Cacking geese and numerous Northern Pintail.  The Cacklers lifted up noisily and filled the sky overhead briefly when a Peregrine Falcon buzzed them.
 
Along the west side of the Visitor's Center Pond boardwalk, two Downy and a Hairy Woodpecker were working away and in the slough at the junction with the Twin Barns boardwalk, a Virginia Rail showed nicely.  Out on the dike a Meadowlark was a bright yellow attraction perched alongside Leschi Slough. Flocks of Dunlin flashed dark and then bright white, performing their mesmerizing murmuration.
 
Walking out the McCallister Creek boardwalk,  a flock of Least Sandpipers with two Western Sandpiper associates caught our attention.  A couple Spotted Sandpipers worked the west bank and a Common Loon consumed a Flounder while sharing the creek with Red breasted Mergansers.  East of the gated end of  the boardwalk, a large flock of Bonaparte's Gulls rested on the mud.  Four Trumpeter Swans stood out along the creek shore on our return to the dike.
 
The complete checklist follows:
 
Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US
Nov 6, 2024 7:44 AM - 4:05 PM
Protocol: Traveling
4.62 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Also saw Black-tailed Deer, Harbor Seals, Eastern Gray squirrel, Townsend's Chipmunk.
67 species (+6 other taxa)

Snow Goose  6
Greater White-fronted Goose  3
Cackling Goose (minima)  2000
Cackling Goose (Taverner's)  50
Canada Goose  8
Trumpeter Swan  4
Trumpeter/Tundra Swan  2
Northern Shoveler  2
Gadwall  6
American Wigeon  800
Mallard  100
Northern Pintail  800
Green-winged Teal  1500
Surf Scoter  40
Bufflehead  150
Hooded Merganser  3
Red-breasted Merganser  8
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  36
Anna's Hummingbird  2
Virginia Rail  3
Killdeer  5
Wilson's Snipe  6
Spotted Sandpiper  2
Greater Yellowlegs  45
Dunlin  1100
Least Sandpiper  80
Western Sandpiper  3
Bonaparte's Gull  140
Short-billed Gull  120
Ring-billed Gull  80
California Gull  2
Glaucous-winged Gull  1
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  24
Western/Glaucous-winged Gull  30
Larus sp.  120
Common Loon  5
Brandt's Cormorant  7
Double-crested Cormorant  20
Great Blue Heron  8
Sharp-shinned Hawk  1
Northern Harrier  3
Bald Eagle  8
Red-tailed Hawk  4
Belted Kingfisher  2
Red-breasted Sapsucker  3
Downy Woodpecker  3
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  3
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
American Crow  250
Common Raven  4
Black-capped Chickadee  12
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  2
Bushtit  20
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  15
Golden-crowned Kinglet  20
Brown Creeper  4
Pacific Wren  5
Marsh Wren  5
Bewick's Wren  6
Varied Thrush  6
American Robin  24
American Pipit  1
House Finch  2
Pine Siskin  120
Fox Sparrow  2
Golden-crowned Sparrow  25
Song Sparrow  22
Spotted Towhee  2
Western Meadowlark  1
Red-winged Blackbird  40
Townsend's Warbler  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S201623460
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