Date: 11/5/26 7:47 pm From: Kenneth Brown via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] Wednesday at Nisqually.
Fall is cheery on a day like this, crisp and cool to start, cloudy but with sun breaks, and not raining. Viewed from the Visitor's Center deck, the pond held a Pied-billed Grebe, Mallards, an American Coot. Marsh Wrens (now- Western Marsh Wrens) darted in and out of sight in the clumps of reeds near the deck, along with a Song Sparrow. Roughly thirty of us birders, most bundled against the cool air, finished our introductions and began our disorganized shamble.
Black-capped and Chestnut backed Chickadees greeted us in the parking lot. A few Crows, the stragglers late leaving their roost, flew east to west overhead. Near the Education Center deck we encountered a mixed flock of Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, more Chickadees, Brown Creeper, and both a Hairy and a Downy Woodpecker. A dozen Golden-crowned Sparrows, along with a Spotted Towhee, foraged on the grass at the entrance to the "Kids" play area. Near the maintenance yard, a flock of Pine Siskins animated a partially bare Alder, it's top seeming to quiver with their activity. A Red-breasted Sapsucker checked for insects in it's neat rows of perforated bark on an old fruit tree.
A few Mallards, Pintail, and Green-winged Teal swam in the flooded fields west of the entrance road and south of the bend in the service road. A large flock of Cackling Geese occupied the unflooded ground on either side of the road bisecting the field west of the north parking lot. A dozen Wilson's Snipe hunkered down in the grass between us and the flooded area of the field , their striped crowns and occasionally their bills, all that was visible. A Meadowlark paused briefly on the bisecting road before moving on, a few more Golden-crowned Sparrows picked through the gravel on the side of the service road to the north.
From the boardwalk on the west side of the loop trail, a single male Ring-necked Duck, a few more Mallards, and a Pied-billed Grebe were the only visible occupants of the pond. Marsh Wrens were busy in the reeds. A talkative Pacific Wren announced itself on the bushy side of the trail, and farther along a couple Fox Sparrows, Bewick's Wrens, and more Chickadees and Kinglets. An adult Bald Eagle was on the ground in front of the Twin Barns platform. We initially thought it had prey but soon found it was wadding up grass to take to it's nest.
The day had warmed up by the time we got out on the dike, and the tide was in. The surge plain was partially flooded, the water holding American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal and Northern Pintail. A few Greater Yellowlegs walked the edges of the remaining dry land. A Northern Harrier cruised low over the upland grass. A flock of 8 Dowitchers flew overhead. Once clear of the Willows on the south side, we could scan the freshwater marsh. A Meadowlark perched up on a dead stick, as did another Harrier. Red-winged Blackbirds perched up on cattails and a Virginia Rail called unseen from their depths. On the saltwater side, a small flock of Dunlin mixed with more Yellowlegs. Gulls, mostly Ring-billed, were scattered on the water and remaining dry land.
McAllister Creek looked more like McAllister Lake as we walked out the boardwalk. Nearing slack tide and with no wind to speak of, the surface of the water was broad, smooth, and undisturbed until the wake from a duck hunter's jon boat sent ripples undulating across the creek. Hunting is allowed from the opposite bank, and the water closest to it, from late October until early February. There were a few Surf Scoters and couple Double-crested Cormorants in the water, along with the charcoal lumps of Harbor Seal heads. A log aground in the shallow near shore water was a resting place for a dozen Least Sandpipers that had no exposed beach to resort to. Duck hunting season also entails a chain-link gate cutting off access to the last 700 feet of the boardwalk, that section being potentially in birdshot range. Scoping from that gate we saw several Common Loons, a lot more Surf Scoters, a couple Horned Grebes, a flock of Bonaparte's Gulls, Brandt's and Double-crested Cormorants. Returning south toward the dike we spotted a Peregrine Falcon perched on a dead Willow, and a bit further on, an American Kestrel. Four Red-breasted Mergansers were in the creek and at the junction with the dike, five Hooded Mergansers.
While still on the dike we scanned another large flock of Cackling Geese, finding one Greater White-fronted goose in their midst. Another visitor to the refuge stopped to ask about local Sharks and showed us a video he had taken from the boardwalk after we left. It was of what Jon identified it as a young sixgill Shark, an unusual sight here. Jon also had a brief distant look at a Eurasian Wigeon. Another helpful visitor pointed out for us a Barred Owl perched in a Maple tree overhanging the portion of Leschi Slough between the Twin Barns and the dike.
The Nisqually River was high and slow moving at the overlook. A Double-crested Cormorant sat on a root wad, a Harbor Seal swam in the nearest bend of the river. We continued south along the east side of the loop trail, seeing few birds and returned to the start for our final tally. See the complete check that follows.
Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually NWR, Thurston, Washington, US
Nov 4, 2026 7:40 AM - 3:58 PM
Protocol: Traveling
5.38 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: The Wednesday Walk started with high clouds and 37º F, with the temperature rising to 57° F before clouding up at 4 p.m. with a south wind at 3-8 knots. A Low +2.5-foot Tide at 07:10 a.m. flooded to a +14.0-foot High water at 2:05 p.m. Others seen Columbian Black Tailed Deer, Harbor Seal, Muskrat, many Pacific chorus frogs, and four Sulphur butterflies (Colias sp.). A juvenile sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus) was seen from the estuary boardwalk.
74 species (+4 other taxa)
Greater White-fronted Goose 1
Cackling Goose (minima) 2500
Cackling Goose (Taverner's) 28
Canada Goose (Greater) 5
Northern Shoveler 24
Gadwall 18
Eurasian Wigeon 1
American Wigeon 2525
Mallard 50
Northern Pintail 1375
Green-winged Teal 1445
Ring-necked Duck 1 Visitors' Center pond
Greater Scaup 3 Nisqually Reach
Surf Scoter 135 About 20 in McAllister Creek; the remainder on Nisqually Reach
Bufflehead 165
Hooded Merganser 5 Cattail Marsh
Red-breasted Merganser 4 McAllister Creek
Ring-necked Pheasant 1 Male vocalizing from west of Twin Barns, near gravel piles
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 46
Anna's Hummingbird 2
Virginia Rail 4 Three vocalizing from Visitors' Center pond, one from cattail marsh
American Coot 7
Killdeer 1
Long-billed Dowitcher 8
Wilson's Snipe 13 Twelve in flooded field west of service road; one in cattail marsh
Greater Yellowlegs 35
Dunlin 300
Least Sandpiper 36
Bonaparte's Gull 22 Nisqually Reach
Short-billed Gull 36
Ring-billed Gull 185
California Gull 4
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 19
Pied-billed Grebe 1 Visitors' Center pond
Horned Grebe 2 East of Luhr Beach
Common Loon 11 One in McAllister Creek, others in Nisqually Reach
Brandt's Cormorant 12 Nisqually Reach channel marker
Double-crested Cormorant 25
Great Blue Heron 14
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Found by Rob C near west parking lot.
Northern Harrier 2
Bald Eagle 10 The pair of adult birds was adding sticks and grasses to the nest near the Twin Barns
Red-tailed Hawk (Western) 1
Barred Owl 1 Large maple near Twin Barns overlook
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-breasted Sapsucker 1 Near land trust office
Downy Woodpecker (Pacific) 2
Hairy Woodpecker (Pacific) 1
Northern Flicker 4
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 2
American Kestrel 1 Tiercel
Peregrine Falcon 1
American Crow 35
Common Raven 1
Black-capped Chickadee 12
Chestnut-backed Chickadee 2
Bushtit (Pacific) 60 Three large flocks
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 10
Golden-crowned Kinglet 15
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 7
Pacific Wren (Pacific) 1
Western Marsh Wren 5
Bewick's Wren 4
European Starling 14
Hermit Thrush 1 Found by Marc near Education Center
American Robin 18
Purple Finch 7 Several feeding on seeds of Oregon Ash (Fraxinus latifolia)
Pine Siskin 215
Fox Sparrow (Sooty) 2
Golden-crowned Sparrow 30
Song Sparrow (Pacific Northwest) 22
Lincoln's Sparrow 2
Spotted Towhee (Pacific) 9
Western Meadowlark 4
Red-winged Blackbird 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 1
