August 28 - Nisqually NWR Wednesday Walk

It’s been a while since I’ve been home mid-week, so decided to go out to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.  That said, this post was shamelessly plagiarized from Volunteer Shep Thorp's account to the Tweeters birding group.

Greeted by a Black-capped Chickadee

Volunteers lead a walk every Wednesday at 8 a.m. from the Refuge Visitors’ Center.  Today, about 28 of us enjoyed a beautiful summer’s day at the Refuge with temperatures in the 60s to 80s Fahrenheit.  One of our leaders, Phil Kelley began the walk with us, but peeled off to lead a student field trip visiting from Pacific Lutheran University. 

Starting out at the Visitors’ Center Pond Overlook, we were greeted by an immature Green Heron hunting in the pond.

You can tell it's an immature because it has streaks on the breast.

Swallows were scarce, as the numbers have significantly dropped with migration in full swing.  Only two Barn Swallows were seen at the start of the walk.  A Great Blue Heron perched high on a snag.

This and the Green Heron photo stolen from Shep Thorp

Refuge staff were busy mowing the high grass from the fields, to provide habitat for wintering waterfowl.  Water could be heard along the west side of the Visitor Center, as the pumps are turned on to begin flooding the dried up - and newly-mowed - fields.

The Heritage Orchard was good for American Goldfinch, Cedar Waxwing, Black-capped Chickadee, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, and Anna’s Hummingbird.  In the stand of trees opposite the entrance road and adjacent to the entrance to the Access Road Wilson’s Warbler, Bewick’s Wren and Steller’s Jays were observed.  A Hairy Woodpecker was heard calling in the tall stand between the parking lots and the Access Road.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Near the west entrance to the Twin Barns Loop Boardwalk, we picked up Purple Finch, Oregon Junco,  and White-crowned Sparrow.

Keep away from the Bald-faced Hornet nest . . .

Along the boards we had nice looks of Common Yellowthroat, Orange-crowned Warbler, Brown Creeper and Warbling Vireo.  From the first observation platform, we saw Red-shafted Flicker and Columbian Black-tailed Deer.

The cut-off to the Twin Barns was really hopping with a family of four Willow Flycatchers busy foraging and very nice looks of Black-throated Gray Warbler and Common Yellowthroat.

Orange-crowned Warbler Leiothlypis celata lutescens

We usually stop for a mid-morning snack at the Twin Barns overlook, before going out onto the north dike.  There were distant Common Ravens calling across the surge plain, with Bald Eagle, Red-tailed and Cooper’s Hawks.  A male American Kestrel was observed hunting from one of the snags, then was observed chasing a Least Sandpiper.  When last seen, he was eating lunch.  The fresh water marsh on the inside of the dike was good for American Bittern, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal and Northern Shoveler.

Out on the Nisqually Estuary Trail, we were greeted with a low -1.89 foot tide at 10:35 p.m., which resulted in quite the mudflat for us to search.

This is covered by water on a high tide

The Refuge is working with the contractor to complete construction on the new bridge over a tributary off Shannon Slough.  Off-and-on, the boardwalk has been closed this year, due to the work.

This is the time of the year that young Cowbirds forage on the mud flats

Two Hooded Mergansers were seen near the photo blind, and several small groups of peeps, including Least and Western Sandpiper, were seen flying over the mudflats.  A large group of more than 20 Killdeer were foraging around the McAllister Creek Viewing Platform.

California Gulls in front, Ring-billed Gulls in back

With the low tide we had nice observation of Gulls and Eagles foraging on Pacific Sand Lance from the sandy bottom of the creek.  Ring-billed, California, Glaucous-winged, and Western Gulls were identified, along with the more-common hybrid “Olympic” Gulls.  We searched for and found two Spotted Sandpipers along the west bank of McAllister Creek, a Belted Kingfisher from the Puget Sound Observation Platform and Purple Martins near the nest boxes at the Luhr Beach.

Luhr Beach is a WDFW-owned facility

Double-crested and Brandt’s Cormorants were observed out on Nisqually Reach.  We saw about 10 Caspian Terns, but were not able to relocate the Franklin's Gull and Common Tern reported earlier in the last two weeks.  As the tide shifted many hundreds of waterfowl took flight and we were able to count hundreds of Northern Pintails, mixed with Mallards, and a few dozen American Wigeon.

From the Estuary Boardwalk, one can see the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (right of Anderson Island)

On our return along the east side of the Twin Barns boardwalk loop, there were Western Wood Pewee, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, American Goldfinch, and more chickadees.  A single Golden-crowned Kinglet was observed at the Riparian Forest Overlook, soon after we watched a mink foraging for its lunch.

In all, we saw 66 bird species for the day, as well as some cool mammals, with 157 avian species for the year for the Wednesday Walk.  All and sundry are welcome to attend this walk.  I’d love to meet you out birding there.

Nisqually NWR eBird Checklist is Here  

 

Drake Wood Duck in "Eclipse" plumage