February 27 - Nisqually NWR

It was another cool morning, and I went out to Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge for the weekly walk.  Neither of the regular FWS Volunteers, Phil Kelley and Shep Thorp, was available, but a group of over two dozen participants assembled at the Visitors’ Center at 8 a.m.  The bird walk was ably led by Ken Brown from the Black Hills Audubon Chapter.  I kept the eBird checklist for the day, as we birders followed the usual path through the Heritage orchard, around the graveled service road to the boardwalk along the Visitors’ Center pond to the Twin Barns.  Several birders continued out onto the north dike, separating the estuary restoration area from the upland fields and freshwater marsh, and further out on the estuary boardwalk.  We returned to the Nisqually River overlook and back on the eastern boardwalk to the Visitors’ Center.

As we approached the orchard, we were treated to a backlit view of a male Varied Thrush.

This species is common enough in the Douglas fir timber and a few hundred feet in elevation higher than this sea-level Refuge.  But, we rarely see one on the Wednesday walks.  The recent snows and cold weather have pushed this handsome bird down slope to where the birders could get a view of him.

The orchard area is also a good place to sort through the wintering sparrow flock.

"Just" a Song Sparrow . . .

As we arrived at the Twin Barns loop boardwalk trail, other birds piqued the interest of the photographers in the group.

The Golden-crowned Sparrows have been grazing on the trail-side grasses

The boardwalk itself follows along the west bank of the Visitors’ Center pond, affording studies of the waterfowl.

Big ol' Honker . . .

Drake Shoveler

This drake Ring-necked Duck shows the faint brownish “ring” at the base of the neck that 19^th-Century ornithologists used to describe the species as “Ring-necked”, rather than the more obvious “Ring-billed” duck.

Ring-necked Drake

Birds aren’t the only draw for folks on the walk.

Black-tailed doe- Odocoileus hemionus columbianus

After “Elevenses” at the Twin Barns, some of the group calls it a morning, and the remainder head out onto the north dike.  We look for Marsh Wrens, Bitterns, and Virginia Rails, and get to study the plumages of the ubiquitous Great Blue Herons.

Adult herons showing their fine plumes

Birds from last year's hatch aren't quite as showy

At the west end of the dike, the majority of the Wednesday Walkers have turned about, and the hard-core birders that remain will continue out to the end of the 1-mile-long Estuary boardwalk to the observation deck on the east bank of McAllister Creek, for views of the salt-water species.  It is along here that we can practice (or hone) our gull identification skills.  The large, pink-legged gulls in this part of the Left Coast are progeny of birds in a “Hybrid Zone” between two gull species.  This gull could easily be identified as a Glaucous-winged Gull by some, but shows somewhat darker primary feathering than might a “pure” GWGU.

Glaucous-wing, or a Hybrid?

This bird is more easily identified as a hybrid between the Western and Glaucous-winged species, with more dark in the wingtips than a Glaucous-wing,

and having fairly ‘dirty’ head, which an adult Western Gull wouldn’t have this time of year.

There is no mistaking an adult Ring-billed Gull.

. . . 'cause it has a ring around the end of its bill

At this tide level, we get to see the Harbor Seals at their haul-out on one of the remaining salt marsh islands in the McAllister Creek estuary.

All winter, there have been small flocks of Least Sandpipers.  We sort through the flocks of Leasts for the odd Western Sandpiper, but none were seen today.

Least Sandpipers have yellow legs . . .

Greater Yellowlegs have been regular along the boardwalk all winter, and are beginning to molt into their Spring finery.

. . . as do Yellowlegs

On our return, we were happily surprised to see the Bittern that eluded us on our way out.

The Nisqually Refuge Volunteers lead a Bird Walk every Wednesday morning.  Meet at the Visitors’ Center at 8 a.m. and join us for a fun morning of birding.

Nisqually NWR eBird Checklist is Here

December 12 - Nisqually Refuge

I went out to the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge today, where 22 birders enjoyed participating in the weekly “Wednesday Bird Walk”

Nisqually Birders

on a cool (low 40°s) morning with high overcast.  The “leader of the gaggle”, Refuge Volunteer Phil Kelley, noted that “the birds cooperated.”

I noted several hundred crows leaving their roost to the east of the Nisqually River as I drove in.  When I arrived at the Visitors’ Center at 8 a.m., there was a Peregrine Falcon in the snag-top of a large Douglas Fir tree, and a pair of Hooded Mergansers joined the Mallards on the pond.

Lots of Mallards on today's walk

Our ‘usual’ route proceeds from the Visitors’ Center past the Environmental Center and into the old Brown’s Farm orchard, which has some ‘legacy’ apple and pear trees.  The group

Refuge Volunteer Shep Thorp Digiscopes a Sapsucker

had good views of a Red-breasted Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, a couple Anna’s Hummingbirds, Song, Fox, and Golden-crowned Sparrows, Ruby- and Golden-crowned Kinglets, and Brown Creepers.

Exiting the orchard, a Red-tailed Hawk posed for the group

Red-tailed Hawk sittin' on a limb

As we came around the service road and onto the west side of the Boardwalk Loop, Anders pointed out a group of 16 Snow Geese that were flushed by a Bald Eagle, and settled in with the Cackling Geese.

There were lots of Bald Eagles on the Refuge today, including this scrappy pair of immature birds

While we were on the boardwalk, a guy came along with a retriever on a leash.  The dog was not well-behaved, straining against the leash, pulling toward people for a ‘pet’, and such.  We told him that dogs were not allowed on the Refuge, and he said “This is a “Service Animal”.  Dubious, we let him know that his out-of-control dog was not a Service Animal, and shouldn’t be there, but he had no shame and bulled his way past us.

The Refuge Volunteers are not Law Enforcement, and - Bless Their Hearts - are not confrontational.  In fact, most of us Washingtonians are only slightly less confrontational than Canadians.  So, this jerk took his dog for a walk on a National Wildlife Refuge in flagrant disregard of the Rules, of the wishes of other Refuge visitors, and the needs of the Wildlife.  There's a special place in Hell for nice people like him . . .

We had ‘brunch’ at the Twin Barns, where a nice spike buck browsed on Himalaya Blackberry leaves,

Spike Buck - Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)

and an Eastern Gray Squirrel came up to us, begging for peanuts or whatever.  Obviously, people have been feeding this little moocher.

Eastern Gray Squirrel - a non-native species here

Then, we headed out onto the north dike where we observed the wintering pair of Peregrines on a snag in the restoration area

The larger bird on the left is the female, her mate above right

and saw quite a few Bald Eagles.  The eagles are drawn to the Refuge by the late run of chum salmon in the Nisqually River.

A group of us continued along the north dike, and out to the gate near the end of the estuary boardwalk as the high tide was ebbing.  The receding water allowed good views of Least Sandpipers

Least Sandpipers are more brownish on their backs, and have yellow legs

and Dunlin,

Dunlin are such a handsome shorebird!

and we found a single Western Sandpiper in the flock.  Western Sandpipers can be common - even abundant - along the Coast, but they are a fairly uncommon wintering bird at Nisqually.

Western Sandpiper shows a more light-grey plumage, and has dark legs

Of course, if you want really yellow legs, there's always the Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca

We had good studies of the gulls.  Ring-billed Gulls fed on green shore crabs close to the boardwalk,

Ring-billed Gull with Green Shore Crab Hemigrapsus oregonensis

and the large “pink-footed” gulls allowed us to differentiate the more-or-less “pure” Glaucous-winged Gulls

The Glaucous-wings have pale gray backs and primary feather tips of the same pale gray

from the more-obviously hybrid “Olympic” gulls which are crosses between the Glaucous-wings and Western Gulls.

"Olympic Gull" showing dark primaries and darker grey mantle, but with dusky feathering on the head

This pair of gulls at the Nisqually River overlook showed a nice “pure” Glaucous-wing on the right, and a bird on the left that we would probably tally on eBird as a Glaucous-wing, but it shows more of a bit of dusky in the primaries.

At the north end of the Estuary Boardwalk, we spied a dead California Sea Lion, but it was too far off to know what caused its demise.

Stranded Sea Lion carcass

I reported this to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Stranding Hotline at 1-866-767-6114. The woman who took my information was very professional, but obviously 'not from here', as she was unaware of the location of Nisqually Refuge, etc.

We did not find the Great Horned Owl that had been perched off the east side of the boardwalk loop for the past three weeks, and it was fairly quiet bird-wise on our return to the Visitors’ Center.  All told, we saw 68 species, and had a pretty good day, in spite of the cool temperatures.

Just another Great Blue Heron

Nisqually eBird Checklist Here