[Tweeters] Wednesday Walk at Billy Frank Jr Nisqually NWR for 6/5/2024

[Shep Thorp via Tweeters]

Hi Tweets,

Around 35 of us had a beautiful spring day at the Refuge with partly cloudy
skies in the morning and sunny skies in the afternoon.  There was a Low -3'
Tide at 11:29am, so lots of mud when we made it out to the dike and Estuary
Boardwalk Trail.  Highlights included nesting CLIFF SWALLOW in the Visitor
Center, DOWNY WOODPECKER feeding chicks at the nest cavity in the big Maple
immediately to the right of the entrance to the Visitor Center, nice
sightings and numbers of CEDAR WAXWING, RED CROSSBILL and EVENING
GROSBEAKS, great looks of CINNAMON TEAL and BLUE-WINGED TEAL in the Visitor
Center Pond, baby WOOD DUCKS, MALLARDS, and HOODED MERGANSER, nesting
WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE along the access road just south of the Twin Barns,
chick in the BALD EAGLE nest across McAllister Creek from the Puget Sound
Viewing Platform, and high count (80 plus) Bald Eagle foraging on Sand
Lance or other small thin fish in the sand and mudflats of McAllister Creek
and Nisqually Reach.  Other highlights included a Columbian Black-tailed
Deer, 3 point buck in velvet, along the Nisqually Estuary Trail and a River
Otter at the Nisqually River Overlook.

For the day we observed 73 species.  First of Year HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER was
observed by some of our group at the west entrance to the Twin Barns Loop
Trail.  We have seen 154 species this year.  See eBird report below with
details.

Until next week when we meet again at 8am at the Visitor Center Pond
Overlook, happy birding.

Shep

-- 
Shep Thorp
Browns Point
253-370-3742

Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US
Jun 5, 2024 6:00 AM - 5:19 PM
Protocol: Traveling
9.732 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Wednesday Walk. Partly cloudy morning, sunny
afternoon. Temperatures in the 40’s to 60’s degrees Fahrenheit. A Low -3’
Tide at 11:29am. Mammals seen include Eastern Cotton-tailed Rabbit,
Columbian Black-tailed Deer, Townsend’s Chipmunk, Eastern Gray Squirrel,
Harbor Seal, River Otter. Other Garter Snake, Bullfrog, Red-eared Slider,
Pacific Tree Frog, Western Meadowhawk, Bronze Ground Beetle (larva seen
last week).
73 species (+4 other taxa)

Canada Goose (moffitti/maxima)  50
Wood Duck  14     Visitor Center Pond
Blue-winged Teal  4     Visitor Center Pond.
Cinnamon Teal  5
Mallard  100
Northern Pintail  2
Bufflehead  1     Previously reported.  Flying from freshwater marsh over
dike.
Common Goldeneye  2     Previously reported. In Shannon Slough. Photos.
Hooded Merganser  13
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  2
Band-tailed Pigeon  12
Mourning Dove  5
Vaux's Swift  2
Rufous Hummingbird  7
hummingbird sp.  1
Virginia Rail  2
Sora  3
Killdeer  1
Whimbrel  2
Ring-billed Gull  100
California Gull  20
Glaucous-winged Gull  20
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  5
Western/Glaucous-winged Gull  20
Caspian Tern  39
Brandt's Cormorant  4
Double-crested Cormorant  30
Great Blue Heron  45
Osprey  1
Bald Eagle  80     Counted   Low tide, foraging on fish in sand/mud along
McAllister Creek and Nisqually Reach.
Red-tailed Hawk (calurus/alascensis)  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-breasted Sapsucker  4
Downy Woodpecker  7
Northern Flicker  2
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)  1
Western Wood-Pewee  6
Willow Flycatcher  6
Hammond's Flycatcher  1
Western Flycatcher (Pacific-slope)  3
Warbling Vireo  12
Steller's Jay  2
American Crow  10
Common Raven  2
Black-capped Chickadee  8
Chestnut-backed Chickadee  4
Bank Swallow  6     Previously reported.
Tree Swallow  30
Violet-green Swallow  2
Purple Martin  9
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  4
Barn Swallow  25
Cliff Swallow  45
Bushtit  1
Brown Creeper  6
Marsh Wren  5
Bewick's Wren  4
European Starling  40
Swainson's Thrush  52
American Robin  25
Cedar Waxwing  60
Evening Grosbeak  5
Purple Finch  6
Red Crossbill  12
American Goldfinch  35
Savannah Sparrow  6
Song Sparrow (rufina Group)  46
Spotted Towhee  6
Yellow-headed Blackbird  5
Bullock's Oriole  6
Red-winged Blackbird  40
Brown-headed Cowbird  23
Common Yellowthroat  18
Yellow Warbler  45
Wilson's Warbler  1
Black-headed Grosbeak  6

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S179815429
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