[Tweeters] Wednesday @ Nisqually

[Kenneth Brown]

Prospects looked gray and gloomy when the walk began.  Steady rain and cooler temperatures dampened clothes and optimism.  The trees seemed silent.  But not for long.  Birds began to appear, Robins, Towhees and Kinglets, then the first of several Varied Thrush.  The rain slackened and then stopped.  It never got very warm but we were treated to sun breaks occasionally.  First of season birds (for the Wednesday Walk) included Bufflehead and a fly-over of 18 Trumpeter Swans.  Varied Thrush and Pine Siskins were seen in greater numbers.  We dipped on the Red-shouldered Hawk again but found a Great-horned Owl.  As the walk concluded back at the Visitor's Center we watched a Mink conclude a successful hunt with a Bullfrog in his mouth.  The complete list follows:
 
Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US
Oct 25, 2023 7:55 AM - 4:22 PM
Protocol: Traveling
6.03 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Wednesday Walk.  The morning began in the 45º rain, but the precipitation diminished by 9:30 a.m. to a partly sunny day with a 3-to-8-knot northerly breeze.  There was a Low +1.0-foot tide at 9:11 a.m., flooding to a +14.0-foot high water at 3:56 p.m., allowing for a push of waterfowl and some shorebirds in from the mudflats along Nisqually Reach.  Mammals seen included Columbian Black-tailed deer, Eastern Grey Squirrel, Harbour Seals and - at the Visitors’ Center Pond - a Mink that caught a Bullfrog.
73 species (+6 other taxa)

Snow Goose  2
Greater White-fronted Goose  27
Cackling Goose (minima)  4500
Cackling Goose (Taverner's)  12
Canada Goose  22
Trumpeter Swan  18     Flyover the WDFW Marsh
Northern Shoveler  15
Gadwall  22
Eurasian Wigeon  1     Drake in estuary restoration area
American Wigeon  825
Mallard  195
Northern Pintail  1125
Green-winged Teal  2450     Estimated by 10x
Ring-necked Duck  1
Surf Scoter  85     Most in Nisqually Reach; one in McAllister Creek
Bufflehead  6     First of Season for Wednesday Walk
Hooded Merganser  8
Common Merganser  6
Common/Red-breasted Merganser  1
Horned Grebe  3     Near and seaward of Luhr Beach
Western Grebe  1     Nisqually Reach
Mourning Dove  1     Orchard
Anna's Hummingbird  1     Orchard
Black-bellied Plover  2
Long-billed Dowitcher  8
Wilson's Snipe  6
Spotted Sandpiper  1     West bank of McAllister Creek
Greater Yellowlegs  25
Dunlin  115
Least Sandpiper  95
Western Sandpiper  75
Short-billed Gull  7
Ring-billed Gull  115
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  36
Western/Glaucous-winged Gull  14
Common Loon  3     Nisqually Reach
Brandt's Cormorant  9     Nisqually Reach Channel Marker
Double-crested Cormorant  35
Great Blue Heron  33
Northern Harrier  4
Bald Eagle  30
Red-tailed Hawk (calurus/alascensis)  1
Great Horned Owl  1     East side of the boardwalk loop near the double benches
Belted Kingfisher  2
Downy Woodpecker (Pacific)  3
Hairy Woodpecker (Pacific)  1     Female
Northern Flicker  2
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)  5
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted x Red-shafted)  1
Peregrine Falcon  2
Hutton's Vireo  3     Orchard, North Dike willows, and east side boardwalk loop
American Crow  115
Common Raven  5
Black-capped Chickadee  20
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  12
Bushtit (Pacific)  30
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  30
Golden-crowned Kinglet  32
Brown Creeper  4
Pacific Wren  9     Several singing
Marsh Wren  3
Bewick's Wren  6
European Starling  50
Varied Thrush  6
American Robin  75
American Pipit  6
Pine Siskin  185
Fox Sparrow (Sooty)  7     A couple were in full song!
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)  1
White-crowned Sparrow (pugetensis)  2
Golden-crowned Sparrow  30
White-throated Sparrow  2     Orchard
Song Sparrow  29
Lincoln's Sparrow  2
Spotted Towhee (oregonus Group)  12
Western Meadowlark  2
Red-winged Blackbird  22
Orange-crowned Warbler  2
Wilson's Warbler  1     * Yellow warbler with faint but distinct black cap ; cf immature female (?)  Seen in willows between the Twin Barns overlook and the North Dike.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S https://ebird.org/checklist/S153074941
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