March 20 - Another good day at Nisqually NWR

I woke this morning to a sunny 38º day to celebrate the Vernal Equinox.  After making coffee, I drove out to Nisqually NWR, where more than 30 people gathered at 8 a.m. for the weekly bird walk,

ably led by Refuge Volunteers Phil Kelley and Shep Thorp.

The group followed the usual route, and we were rewarded in the Heritage orchard with a male Anna’s Hummingbird sharing the blooming Oregon Grape flowers with a first-of-the-year Rufous Hummer, just back from his winter sojourn to Mexico.

Male Anna's hummer nectaring on Oregon Grape flowers

The Tree Swallows are back in numbers, as well, and many will nest in boxes and natural cavities in the Refuge.

I am always saddened by seeing the fir and spruce trees planted in the orchard.

There are many groups around the country working to preserve the old heritage apple trees, and one would hope that the USFWS would protect this historical orchard, rather than planting “native vegetation” that will eventually shade out and kill the apple trees.

The group’s path leaves the orchard and goes around the service road for views into the open fields,

Nisqually NWR is just north of I-5

before arriving at the boardwalk along the west side of the Visitors’ Center pond, where we get good views of waterfowl and of some the “little brown jobs”.

Drake Hooded Merganser

Male Bushtits have dark eyes

while the females have yellow eyes

A crow at the picnic area was enjoying its own “elevenses”.  Where it found the head of a Mallard hen is anyone’s guess, but it could easily have been scavenged from an eagle kill . . .

Brunch on the Lido deck . . .

After a quick stop for morning snacks at the Twin Barns overlook, we continued out the north dike for views of the remaining Cackling Geese, before they leave for their breeding grounds on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta.

Many of the folks leave the group at either the Barns or at the base of the mile-long estuary boardwalk, but the “hard-core” group (those of us who don’t have a life?) continue on out, to see what’s on the mud flats.  At high tide, this area is all water.  At low tide, we get a good idea of the benefits of the estuary restoration, since the outer ring dike was removed in 2009.

The project was the largest of its kind ever undertaken in the Pacific Northwest.  Because the estuary was diked and dammed for more than 100 years, it took a decade of planning and on-the-ground work to restore tidal flow.  The end result: the successful re-connection of 762 acres of estuary to the Puget Sound.  The project restored 37 acres of riparian surge plain habitat and enhanced 240 acres of freshwater wetland habitat.  More than 4 miles of dike was removed to allow tides to flood the area, increasing salt marsh habitat in South Puget by 50 percent.  Combined with 140 acres previously restored by the Nisqually Indian Tribe, more than 900 acres of the Nisqually estuary have now been restored.

Mt. Rainier caps the view of the estuary restoration area

This boardwalk is our best opportunity to search for shorebirds, and we were rewarded with a sighting of a not-too-common-for-Nisqually Western Sandpiper.

It was warm on our return to the Visitors’ Center, as the temperature got up to 79º F this afternoon.  But, the heat didn’t slow down the birding.  In fact, it got hot and heavy for some . . .

Parents - avert your children's eyes!

We also found a drake Eurasian Wigeon mixed in with the American Wigeon flock, which we’d apparently missed on the way out.

At the end of the walk, Shep usually reviews the daily list, and while going through the sightings, we have a few minutes to see what’s around in the afternoon.  Today, we picked up our Wood Duck pair, loafing in the warm sun with a resident red-eared slider.

Nisqually NWR eBird Checklist is Here