December 4, 2019 - Another Nisqually Refuge "Wednesday Walk"

I’ve gotten in the “bad habit” of going out with the “Wednesday Walk” group at Nisqually NWR, about 12 miles from my house.  There are usually one or two dozen birders in attendance, of all levels of birding expertise.  The walk is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. every week, and no one is expected to last all day; most folks have a Real Life, and only go birding for part of the day.  Some of us, who have nothing better to do, will be out with Refuge Volunteer Shep Thorp until the bitter end.  Usually around 3 or 4 p.m.

As usual, the group departed the Visitors’ Center and worked our way through the heritage orchard.

Although Pacific Wrens are in the area year-round, it is easier to see these "skulkers" when the leaves have fallen.

Both Juncos and White-crowned Sparrows are common in the area, but for some reason they are not all that common on the Refuge.  Here, an immature “Gambel’s” White-crown was found in a flock of Golden-crowned Sparrows.  I see the bill as being more "dirty straw" color than the "yellow" bill of the Puget Sound subspecies.

The group went north to catch the tidal push, hoping the incoming tide would result in the waterbirds being a bit closer.  And scoping from the north dike into the restored estuary, we were rewarded with a view of a drake Eurasian Wigeon (seen here in the lower left) among all of the American Wigeon.

We went out onto the estuary boardwalk within an hour of the high tide, which happened at noon today, and sorted through the various gulls and waterfowl.

We see lots of “Large Pink-footed Gulls” in south Puget Sound.  Many birders from “Away” want to see Left Coast specialties like a Glaucous-winged or Western Gull.  Unfortunately for them, many (most?) of the gulls in this area are hybrids of the two species.  Those folks who are hoping for a "Life Bird" are disappointed that these are "merely" hybrids, and don't "count" as a "tick" on their bird lists.

As the tide rose, most of the mudflat had been inundated, and any chance for seeing shorebirds had pretty well disappeared.

But, with the high water, one can often see bird species that more often stay out in the deeper water.  Because it was a +13.74-foot high tide, a Red-throated Loon swam in to hunt its lunch in McAllister Creek’s flooded intertidal zone.

The waterfowl hunting season is on-going on the WDFW Wildlife Area adjacent to the Refuge.  Many hunters are not familiar with the 12-15-foot tidal exchange, and set their duck decoys with too light a weight, or too short of an anchor line.

We’d seen a fair number of birds out on the estuary.  Having the salt water habitats of the Nisqually Reach and Delta adjacent to the Refuge’s fresh water marsh, fields, and riparian trees makes for a pretty good species count on most days.  As we walked back, we spied a raptor perched in a cottonwood snag.

Getting the scopes on the bird revealed it to be a Peregrine Falcon searching for a duck dinner.

In all, the group saw 70 species today, which is not bad for a damp mid-winter day.  Come join us if you can!

Nisqually NWR eBird checklist is Here

 

September 25, 2019 - Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

There is a weekly birding walk at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge every Wednesday, led by Refuge Volunteers.  The birders meet at 8 a.m. at the Refuge Visitors’ Center and follow a route along the boardwalks, the north dike, and some of us go all the way out to the end of the McAllister Creek estuary boardwalk.

Refuge Volunteer Coordinator David True briefs the birders on trail conditions

Today, about 25 of us met on a beautiful autumn day, with cloudy skies in the morning and partly sunny skies in the afternoon.  Fall temperatures were from 50-70ºs Fahrenheit.  There was a Low -0.45 foot Tide at 9:16 a.m., flooding toward a 13.23-foot high water at 4:29 p.m.

Refuge Volunteer Shep Thorp leads the gaggle of birders on the boardwalk

Highlights included two Wilson’s Snipe and a Cinnamon Teal at the Visitor Center Pond Overlook, a continuing Red-shouldered Hawk, nice mixed flocks with warblers on the Loop Trail including several Hermit Thrush, a Kestrel and Peregrine Falcons.

Immature Male Wood Duck

Starting out at the Visitor Center Pond , we had nice looks of Wood Duck and Hooded Mergansers.  We saw three California Scrub Jays in the parking lot, and also had sightings of Mink and Long-tailed Weasel.

Scrub Jay

The Orchard was good for Spotted Towhee, newly-arriving Golden-crowned Sparrows, Common Yellowthroat, Orange-crowned Warbler, Bewick’s Wren and Cedar Waxwings.  I missed seeing a Swainson’s Thrush flying behind the Education Center and the three Band-tailed Pigeons flying overhead.  Across from the entrance to the Education Center was a nice mixed flock of Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets, and both Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees.

Orange-crowned Warbler

The field between the Access Road and Entrance Road is now flooded providing habitat for our First-of-the-Season Ring-necked Ducks, as well as Cackling Geese, Pintails, Green-winged Teal, Wigeon and Wood Ducks.  Two American Pipits were heard and seen flying overhead, and a Red-tailed Hawk was seen perching on a limb.  I noted that it had been dry here while I was up in Alaska, but recent showers had "resurrected" the Licorice Ferns.

We had a nice mixed flock along the Access Road gave us views of Yellow and Audubon’s Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrush, Red-shafted Flickers and Purple Finch.  The Red-shouldered Hawk was vocalizing in the stand of willows southwest of the west parking lot.

Along the Twin Barns Loop Trail, we had to pay due respect to a Bald-faced Hornet nest, but had nice sightings of Red-breasted Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Hutton’s Vireo, Pacific Wren, and early Fox Sparrows.  This is always a good place to see warblers in migration, and today we got to see Common Yellowthroats, Yellow, Orange-crowned, Wilson’s and Black-throated Gray Warblers.  The Pacific Wrens were especially vocal this week.  I missed seeing a late Willow Flycatcher, observed by some of our group at the Twin Barns cut-off.

Black-throated Gray Warbler

The Twin Barns Overlook was great for observing Turkey Vultures, Common Raven, and another Red-tailed Hawk soaring on the thermals.

We picked up hundreds of transient Barn and Violet-green Swallows foraging high over the fresh water marsh.  Quite a few more were feeding lower over the salt marsh, with some perching in the willows along the dike.

Out on the dike we had great looks of American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon and Bald Eagles.

On the mud flats were mostly Ring-billed Gulls, although several Glaucous-winged Gull-types and a few Caspian Terns were still around.  With the low tide, Identification skills were put to the test for distant ducks and peeps.

Ring-billed Gull

Thankfully, Great Blue Herons, Savannah and White-crowned Sparrows, American Goldfinch and Marsh Wrens were much closer.

Curious Great Blue Heron

The Refuge is having a section of the estuary boardwalk repaired, due to erosion at its base due to tidal action.

Had they just known 12 years ago that restored estuaries might erode . . .

After the ‘official’ walk, volunteer Shep Thorp and I went out at 2:30 p.m. to catch the incoming high tide, and had nice looks at four Whimbrel.  We counted 10 Black-bellied Plover a bit further out and west of Leschi slough.  On our return, we picked up a vocalizing Hammond’s Flycatcher along the east side of the loop trail, and nice looks at Hairy Woodpecker, Brown Creepers, and more Yellow and Black-throated Gray Warblers.

Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus

It was nice to see 70 species for the day, as well as a couple of mink, a Long-tailed Weasel, Eastern Gray Squirrels, and Columbia Black-tailed Deer.

White-crowned Sparrow

Nisqually NWR morning eBird Checklist is Here

Nisqually NWR afternoon eBird Checklist is Here

Not A Bird:  Mantid populations had been largely unknown in Washington State, except for a rare small, 1-inch-long, gray native species in the sagebrush areas of eastern Washington.  In recent years, however, the habit of gardeners purchasing and releasing egg cases of non-native Carolina, California, and Chinese mantids, have introduced and increased the presence of praying mantis in Washington.  We saw several at the Refuge today.