NFR Billie Franks Jr. Nisqually Wildlife Refuge: 17 and 24 April 2022

[Cabezon]

Part 1 of 4. April 24th was a particularly good day for diversity: sparrows, swallows, and shorebirds - all coincidently in groups of fours. Sparrows first. Of course, song sparrows are common year-round residents of the refuge. They aren’t shy and the males exuberantly sing from shrubs and the lower branches of trees to advertise for mates and to mark their territory.


As we walked along the northernmost boardwalk of the Twin Barns Loop Trail, we encountered a mixed group of golden-crowned sparrows

and white-crowned sparrows


foraging on the gravel road at the top of the dike between the Nisqually River and its flood plain and the ponds and canals inside Brown’s Farm.

The fourth species were savannah sparrows. We have occasionally seen this species on the upland areas of the saltwater mud flats. But, I was surprised when I heard sparrow-like chirping coming from what appeared to be mudflats themselves. With my binocs, I spied several savannah sparrows at the base of some of dead trees that remain after the area was converted from freshwater to saltwater. Complete with muddy beaks, these savannah sparrows appeared to be channeling their inner sandpiper, foraging on the mud flat.



Steve

 

[Cabezon]

Part 2 of 4. It was also a good day for swallows. We had seen and heard small flocks of tree swallows flying among the tops of trees as they sought out insects. We also heard several birds chittering by some dead tree branches, likely nest sites. And while we were watching the white-crowned and golden-crowned sparrows, a tree swallow dropped down in the middle of the flock. It grabbed a blade of dried grass, probably for padding for its nest.

And then it was off.

There was a lot more nesting activity at the McAllister Creek Viewing Platform along the Nisqually Estuary Boardwalk. Industrious cliff swallows were ferrying mouthfuls of mud from the mud flat to eaves of the platform to build their mud nests. Some nests were in the early stages but others looked ready for the addition of eggs.



A few barn swallows appeared to be supervising the cliff swallows from perches by the platform.


Later, a violet green perched to provide its input.


All of this frantic activity was disrupted when a crow dropped by to perch in the dead branches. All the swallows took flight and vocalized alarm calls until the crow flew off.

Steve

 

[Cabezon]

Part 3 of 4. Onto shorebirds. Some shorebirds, like greater yellowlegs, have been at the refuge all winter, but others are coming in to refuel before continuing their migrations north.


We encountered a small flock of least sandpipers probing at the edge of McAllister Creek. Their yellow legs are a solid ID key and many of the birds had already acquired the brown back feathers that marks their breeding plumage.


While we were watching the swallow antics at the platform, a mixed flock of dunlins and western sandpipers (bigger than least sandpipers and with dark legs) flew in to forage along the water’s edge. The dunlins have already acquired the black belly-patch of their breeding plumage.



And we saw a bonus shorebird. While seen too briefly for a photograph, my wife and I also saw a Wilson’s snipe; it flew in from the freshwater marsh to land in the uplands of the salt marsh and then took off again deeper into the mud flats. I have never seen this species at Nisqually before and only just once or twice in my life.

While many of the large flocks of ducks and geese that overwintered at Nisqually have headed north, some remain, either delaying their migration flights or preparing to nest themselves in the refuge. On both days, we encountered nervous flocks of cackling geese that are still waiting for weather to improve in their breeding grounds along the Bering Sea and Artic Ocean.


The few Canada geese that we saw are likely resident birds. They were paired up and one hen may have been incubating a clutch of eggs. Green-winged teals, mostly in pairs, sifted the mud on both the freshwater and saltwater sides of the refuge.


Scattered pairs of Northern shovelers demonstrated their characteristic vortex feeding where a single bird or a pair swim around a central point and filter food drawn into that central area.


There were a few pintails and American wigeons remaining but the larger flocks have moved on. In McAllister Creek, there were a few buffleheads, goldeneyes, and surf scoters, but in lower numbers than we had been seeing. The mallards were paired up. And we only saw a few male wood ducks; I suspect that the hens are incubating eggs in the nest boxes that are scattered around the refuge. In one of the freshwater canals, we were treated to a great view of a pair of hooded mergansers. They were shy but I managed a few reasonable pictures of the pair.


Steve

 

[Cabezon]

Part 4 of 4. The swallows were not the only birds actively engaged in nest building. We encountered a male robin with a mouthful of moss to line its nest.


On the 24th, we had barely left the 4Runner when we heard a Bewick’s wren singing loudly from one of the short trees around the parking lot. A true multitasker, we watched it grab and devour an earwig between songs.


The red-winged blackbird males made their distinctive calls and displays from the marsh cattails or low branches of trees.


One of the most common birds that we saw were yellow-rumped warblers. There were everywhere in the trees, gleaning insects from branches or flying off to pick up flying insects (hawking). In light of the high numbers, I suspect that most of their birds were using the refuge as a refueling stop. There could have been other warblers (e.g., orange-crowned warblers) mixed in with the yellow-rumps) but there were just so many yellow-rumps that it would be challenging to separate this common species from other rare species. Most of the yellow-rumped warblers were the Audubon’s subspecies (yellow throat, gray head),


but at least a few birds were of the Myrtle subspecies (white throat, black face mask).

The Audubon’s subspecies dominates from the Rocky Mountains and west. The Myrtle subspecies dominates in the east and the through Arctic Canada and Alaska. Up until the later 70’s, they were considered two separate species. But because they interbreed successfully where they overlap in the Rockies, scientists combined the two. But newer genetic evidence indicates that the two subspecies are genetically distinctive and do not show substantial introgression (exchange) of genes; so, they may end up being considered separate species again.

Steve

 

[SteelHeadDave]

Great pics and write up!

 

[Gyrfalcon22]

Superb, Steve !

March and April are the best birding months of the year I think. Hate to see the foliage and nesting take away from the easy viewing. That is quite a spot there. Nice work as always !