January 2 - Nisqually NWR

It was 35° and mostly cloudy this morning.  I made coffees, ate a piroshky breakfast, and drove out to Nisqually Refuge for the weekly Bird Walk.  On this Twelfth Day of the Trump Shutdown, the Refuge remains open, but because of Trump 's "Partial Government Shutdown", the staff aren’t working and the Port-A-Potties at the Twin Barns are not being serviced.  Thank Goodness the main “flushies” at the Visitors’ Center are serviced under contract with a Private Sector . . .  When will his madness end?

The weekly walk is led by Refuge Volunteers, who aren't supposed to "work" during the Shutdown.  At least, they aren't supposed to wear their hats identifying them as volunteers . . . .


There were about 30 participants in the walk this morning,

and we started out on the ‘usual route’ through the old orchard, where we had great views of a Red-breasted Sapsucker.  Of course I couldn’t get a photo of the sapsucker, but I did enjoy seeing a Brown Creeper on top of a tree branch!  Usually they’re hanging from the bottom of the limb

As we came around the entrance road across from the orchard, a flock of Golden-crowned Sparrows had been joined by a White-throated Sparrow.  White-throats are uncommon enough here on the West Coast that we really enjoy seeing them.

The White-throated Sparrow is on the right . . .

For some reason, the Golden-crowns will come out in the open for photos . . .

Finding a Hairy Woodpecker is a little harder than finding a Downy, although neither are rare in the area

Male Hairy Woodpecker

Along the service road, Ethan flushed a pair of Wilson’s Snipe, which dropped back into the wet grass field

Find the Snipe . . .

These birds are so camouflaged in their habitat that it takes a bit of effort to locate them on the ground.

There It Is!!

We had good views of Northern Shovelers.  These ducks will swim and spin to dislodge seeds and invertebrates from the bottom of the pond.  This causes a "vortex" which draws the food items to the surface so they can feed.

It's always easier when you have your partner to help

Nisqually Refuge was set up to be a waterfowl sanctuary, so there are lots of ducks to be seen

Bufflehead Hen

Drake Ring-necked Duck

As well as Herons . . . there are always herons . . .

Out on the Estuary Boardwalk,

The Boardwalk was built in 2008

There are always views of gulls

Ring-billed Gull doing a double-wing stretch

And shorebirds

Greater Yellowlegs

One patch of Salicornia had nearly 200 Least Sandpipers in it, once we looked closely.

A flock of wigeon had one drake that had much lighter plumage than the rest

Revealing a nice drake Eurasian Wigeon.

We will see a Eurasian Wigeon almost every day

On the way back in, we found another ‘aberrant’ wigeon drake in a flock.  It showed a lot of reddish in the head, but still had the rufous flank feathering, and we decided it was a Hybrid American X Eurasian Wigeon

Hybrid Eurasian X American Wigeon

I was intrigued in a patch of Oregon Grape that were already starting to 'bud out'.  It just seems wrong for these plants to begin to flower in early January . . . 

Tall Oregon Grape Mahonia aquifolium beginning to flower

We arrived back at the Visitors’ Center to tally up the day’s sightings, and we astounded by several hundred crows returning toward their roost – presumably on Fort Lewis.  A few took a short break in the Refuge’s trees before continuing.

Just a portion of the 800 Crows that flew over at the end of the day

 Another great day at Nisqually comes to an end

I ended the day with 64 species, bringing my Year List to 72 species.

Nisqually eBird Checklist is Here