July 31 - Nisqually NWR again

This morning I went out again to Nisqually Refuge to take part in the weekly Wednesday Bird Walk.

The Refuge volunteers take the group on a 3-to-5 mile walk

Often, up to 30 participants show up on a Wednesday morning

around the boardwalk along the Visitors' Center pond,

Not a Green Turtle, but a green Red-eared Slider

past the Twin Barns, and out onto the north dike, returning along the east side of the boardwalk.

A Puget Sound Garter Snake was crossing the dike.  This subspecies of the “Common” Garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis pickeringii) is slender and black with turquoise bellies and bright yellow or turquoise dorsal and lateral stripes; occasionally with vertical red flecks on their sides.

The estuary boardwalk will be closed intermittently this year to allow repairs to the bridge over one of the side sloughs.

But, this part of the walk is currently open, and allows access to the viewing platform overlooking the mouth of McAllister Creek, as well as views of the nesting Cliff Swallows.

I had to leave the walk early, as I’m on the Board of Directors for a not-for-profit Cemetery Association, and needed to sign paychecks for the Masonic Memorial Park staff this afternoon.

Townsend's Chipmunk Neotamias townsendii

Nisqually NWR eBird Checklist is Here