October 9, 2019 - Wednesday Bird Walk at Nisqually

I went out to Nisqually Refuge for the weekly bird walk, attended by about 30 other folks.  The estuary boardwalk is closed through the end of the month, and when it re-opens it will be closed 400 yards short of the end for the waterfowl hunting closure.  The Refuge built its boardwalk right to the property line between the NWR and the State of Washington’s public hunting area, so the closure is to provide a safety zone for the Refuge visitors during the seasonal hunt.

Refuge Volunteer Ken Brown lines a scope on the estuary restoration area.

The weekly Wednesday Bird Walk, led by Refuge volunteers, meets at 8 a.m. at the Refuge Visitors’ Center.  Today thirty-five of us enjoyed a cool but sunny day at the Refuge.  Temperatures were in the 40's to 50's degrees Fahrenheit with breezy conditions.  Highlights included first of year Barred Owl, Evening Grosbeaks, and Marbled Godwit.  We were not able to relocate the Northern Pygmy-Owl or Rusty Blackbird which were seen over the weekend, but did have nice looks of Black-throated Gray Warblers, a quick peek at the Red-shouldered Hawk, and first-of-the-season Dunlin.  A late Pacific-slope Flycatcher was a treat.  There was a Low 1.75-foot Tide at 9:32 a.m., so we finished the morning walk by 2 p.m., took a short break and several of us went out for a second walk from 2-to-4 p.m. to catch the incoming 13.04-foot high water at 4:39 p.m.

Starting out at the Visitor Center Pond Overlook at 8 a.m., we had sightings of Wood Ducks and a Wilson’s Snipe.  Ken Brown called in on an early morning scout to report the Barred Owl on the inside of the east side Twin Barns Loop Trail just north of the twin bench overlook.  We rushed out, but by the time the group arrived, the bird had flown.  We did relocate the Owl just south of the twin benches for many of our group to see.  This species is unusual for us to see on the Refuge, and we presume the resident Great Horned Owls make life a bit chancy here.  We did check the northeast section of the loop trail but did not relocate the Northern Pygmy Owl seen over the weekend.  We also were unable to find the Rusty Blackbird reported around the west side of the Visitor Center.  A Virginia Rail was seen in the sedges across from the Riparian Forest cut-off.

Barred Owl

The Orchard was hopping with flocks of American Goldfinches and Pine Siskins.  We also had nice looks at Black-throated Gray Warbler there, along with several Yellow-rumped Warblers of both the Audubon's and Myrtle variety.  We got to see four species of woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, and Red-shafted Flicker.  Golden-crowned Sparrows, Anna’s Hummingbird, Golden- and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Brown Creepers, both Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Oregon Juncos, and Fox Sparrows made for a busy sojourn.  We were even saw a Varied Thrush, which aren’t all that common on the flat-lands of the Refuge.

Along the maintenance Access Road, the southern field was flooded and hosted hundreds of B.h. minima Cackling Geese, with attendant American Wigeon, Northern Pintails, and Green-winged Teal.  A Red-tailed Hawk hunted the fields, and we were surprised by a late Osprey carrying a starry flounder overhead.

Whittier's hearing is better than mine . . .

Whittier and others heard Evening Grosbeaks fly over (which I missed); we have seen them in this stand of woods during this season in previous years.  Heading north between the parking lot and mowed fields to the west we had a Merlin fly over the group, carrying prey and being mobbed by American Pipits!   From the old McAllister Creek Access Road green gate, we had a brief sighting of the Red-shouldered Hawk, perched in a willow along a line of bramble just north of the gravel road.  Almost as soon as it was sighted, it flew south along the bramble line to trees along the McAllister Creek Access Road, providing views of its distinctive barred tail and white crescents at base of primary flight feathers.

If the Beavers were doing their jobs better, we'd have had better views of the Hawk!

The west entrance to the Twin Barns Loop Trail was good for Cedar Waxwings, another Wilson’s Snipe, and Pied-billed Grebe.  The twin bench overlook south of the Twin Barns cut-off had a remaining Cinnamon Teal mixed in with Mallards, Green-winged Teal, and Wigeon.  We heard and saw one of the reclusive Pacific Wrens along here as well.  And, the "tree frogs" are out.

Pacific Chorus Frog with a friend

The Twin Barns Overlook was quiet and cool in the shade, so we quickly headed out to the dike or Nisqually Estuary Trail to warm up in the sun.  The Nisqually Estuary Boardwalk Trail is still closed for bridge work, and are hoping the work will be done soon so the boardwalk can reopen in November.  On the mudflats of the surge plain we observed Black-bellied Plover and Ring-billed Gulls.  A male American Kestrel has been regularly seen hunting from the artificial snags in the restored estuary area.  We had good sightings of a Peregrine Falcon hunting the Green-winged Teal, another Red-tailed Hawk and Bald Eagles.  A Coyote was also hunting adjacent to the fresh water marsh, not far from where we had seen Columbian Black-tailed Deer earlier.  Several Western Meadowlarks were flying around the freshly-moved fields.  We also picked up Glaucous-winged and California Gulls, Double-crested Cormorants, and a single Savannah Sparrow.  No swallows to be seen.

Scratch where it itches . . .

The Nisqually River Overlook gave us our day’s Belted Kingfisher and a view of a River Otter.   This being Autumn in western Washington, the trails and roads are crawling with Woolly Bears!  These fuzzy caterpillars are the larvae of the Isabella Tiger Moth Pyrrharctia isabella.  There are lots of myths about being able to tell the severity of the upcoming winter by the width of the bands on these little critters, but no one's ever been able to establish a correlation.

Banded Woolly Bear

Several were all black.  These woolly worms are not the portent of a Winter Apocalypse, but rather are the larvae of another species of Tiger Moth, which I think is the Ornate Tiger Moth, Apantesis (Grammia) ornata.

Black Woolly Bears Matter

On our return the east side of the Twin Barns Loop Trail was good for Chickadee, Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and the seasonally late “Pac-slope” Flycatcher - this Empidonax species has a small prominent eye-ring, two wing bars, a moderate primary projection, and spatulated bill with yellow mandible and yellow belly.  I got photos of the flycatcher foraging in the top of a Red Alder next to the slough with the beaver deceiver.

We finished up the walk around 2 p.m., started a new eBird list, and made our way back out to the dike to catch the incoming tide.  We were rewarded with nice looks of five Marbled Godwits, and good looks of first-of-the-fall-season Dunlin, Black-bellied Plovers, Dowitchers, Western Sandpipers and Greater Yellowlegs.  It's certainly nice to see the large shorebirds using the Refuge as a rest stop on their migration.

There's that Snipe, again . . .

We saw approximately 70 species for the day, raising the count to 164 species for the year on the Wednesday Walk.  Barred Owl, Evening Grosbeak and Marbled Godwit were new for the year.  Mammals seen were Eastern Cotton-tailed Rabbit, Eastern Gray Squirrel, Columbian Black-tailed Deer, Coyote and River Otter.  The American Beaver have been very busy around the west side of the Twin Barns Loop Trail.

Nisqually NWR a.m. eBird Checklist is Here

Nisqually NWR p.m. eBird Checklist is Here

Go Beavs!!

April 9 - More time in the Flint Hills

Today was another sunny, 50º day, and I returned to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.  Along the roadside, as I’d seen all across the State, was a lush growth of Henbit.

This is a non-native ‘weed’, but adds a lot of color to the highway verges.

Henbit - Lamium amplexicaule

The Bottomland Nature Trail follows along a restored prairie bottomland, with riparian trees.

Much of the remaining tallgrass prairie consists of areas such as the Flint Hills, which were too rocky to plow.

But, the bottoms along the streams had deep soils that were cultivated by the settlers, and only remnants and restored areas such as this still remain.

Wood Ducks flushed from Fox Creek and a pair of Canada Geese were feeding.

A Barred Owl was still hunting in the late morning, and came over to check me out.

Barred Owl - Strix varia

I ended up with several ticks from the morning’s walk, and can only recommend that people follow the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control.  I, of course, was out in the tall grass without having used a DEET-containing repellent.

Harris’ Sparrows fed on the young green seeds of the elm trees.

These tree seeds are quite abundant here

The protein content of developing seeds is high enough to entice the birds, and will help fuel their migration to their breeding grounds in the Canadian North.

Harris' Sparrow - Zonotrichia querula

I returned to the Visitors’ Center, where I had stopped yesterday afternoon.

At the Jones’ house and barn, I took some time to appreciate the stonework.

Wonderful setting for a midwest farm . . .

An amazing stone house . . .

. . . complementing this amazing stone barn

There was little wood, back in the day, to build fences, so the landowner had stone brought in from the quarry at Strong City to fence miles of the farm and pastures.

They even made the fence posts out of stone!

Around the house, the front steps, porches, and buildings were constructed of the same stone.

Mortared and unmortared wall

A "perfect ashlar"

Hand-hewn stone steps

Hewn stone pillar at the porch steps

I had learned that the difference between a Stone Mason and a “Cowan” was that the Mason would use mortar, whereas the Cowan worked in unmortared stone.

The Cowans were "dry wallers" . . .

Instead of heading out onto the open prairie, I chose to walk the “Southwind Trail” up to the old schoolhouse.

Fox Creek Schoolhouse

Along the small tributary to Fox Creek, there were more Harris’ Sparrows - still feeding on the elm seeds.

Fattening up on elm seeds

The trail had several blooming wildflower species, as well as the accompanying butterflies.

Purple Locoweed - Oxytropis lambertii

Gray Hairstreak - Strymon melinus

I finally left this little gem of a prairie, thankful for the forces and politics that preserved the land and its flora & fauna.

Eastern Phoebe - Sayornis phoebe

Driving south, there was yet more annual burning of the tallgrass prairie.

Acres and acres were burned along my route

This fire, along the highway adjacent to Interstate 35, burned right up to the road.

A Ranchland Trust property undergoing prescribed burning

Fires burn right up to the roadsides around here

Burn, Baby, Burn!

The fire attracted several hawks, which coursed over the burned area looking for fresh-toasted mice and insects.

The livestock didn’t seem all that concerned about the fires, waiting for the flames to settle a bit before heading back out.

The burned area will “green up” in short order, providing ample forage.

Heading south, I pulled into Pawhuska, Oklahoma at about 5 p.m., and loaded my belongings into Room 22 of the Black Gold Motel, then went down to check in for $69.  I talked to a few of the birders who were staying there for the field trip through the Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival, but no one seemed interested in going out for supper, so I went by myself to Rancho los Primos for Carne Asada and 2 Negras Modelos for $18.  Then, I went to bed early, as we were off early to view the Prairie Chicken lek tomorrow morning.

Bottom Land Nature Trail eBird Checklist is Here

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve eBird Checklist is Here