[Tweeters] Thurston County Goodies

[Christopher Clark]

Hello everyone,

     This morning I spent a couple of hours birding in Thurston County and
ended up adding 5 species to my county list! You see, my go to spot in the
county is Billy Frank Jr Nisqually NWR, but some species are hard to find
or downright rare, that are easy to find elsewhere. With this in mind, I
decided to check out a couple of new spots. Today I had a desire to see the
dippers at Tumwater Falls Park (now called Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls,
at least according to Google Maps). One of the first birds to greet me was
a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, which was a wonderful surprise. It was loosely
associating with a flock of White-crowned Sparrows, and was quite
photogenic! HOUSE SPARROWS were also present, a long overdue addition to my
county list. There was a pair of dippers that put on quite a show - I find
it fascinating how they just dive under the rushing water and have no
problem navigating the water. Me personally? I would've drowned, lol. I did
not find the Black Phoebe that was reported recently, unfortunately.

     I also checked out Capitol Lake, specifically Marathon Park, where the
female REDHEAD continues on the north pool. On the south side, a flock of
80+ CANVASBACKS was a neat sighting, and 4 TRUMPETER SWANS were hanging out
nearby. As time goes on I'm hoping to visit some more of Thurston County's
great birding spots. Scatter Creek and Mima Mounds are some target spots,
but if you know of any other "must visit" spots, feel free to let me know.

     On the way back, I stopped at the McNeil St. Trail in Dupont. I did
see several Brant, but they were all on the Thurston side of the river. I
did pick up FOY Common Raven though. I also stopped by the WDFW American
Lake Boat Launch, or the Camp Murray Boat Launch as seen on eBird (Discover
Pass required) and picked up FOY Killdeer and a couple of "Myrtle"
Warblers. Also present were dozens of coots but sadly no Redheads (this
spot is a known location for the species). Oh well, maybe next time! All in
all it was an enjoyable day!

Christopher Clark
Puyallup, WA
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