Sighting a New Hawk

Went to the Saturday bird walk at Nisqually, today led by an actual [sort of] ranger, with tons of information. Every time I go, I see more things and learn more, building on the bits of information gleaned from previous expeditions. I learned that the closer areas of the estuary fill with more like 5% salinity instead of completely sea water, at high tide, due to the fact that fresh water floats on salt water. Huh. 

I learned that, not only do certain fields flood in the early spring, but that various fields are flooded on purpose at different times [by the Refuge] so that birds feeding on the new grass shoots and arriving at different times can be attracted and can graze. I learned that eagles eat herons, who, although they have pretty good beaks, don't try to defend themselves. And that herons are so dumb they can die from swallowing fish too big for their throats. But I still like herons!

At first our fearless leader was disappointed because, although we could hear birds, it was pretty still and we didn't see many to begin with. We saw the lump of an eagle perched on the favorite eagle tree, who later flew home [the eagle, not the tree.] We heard and later saw waxwings--yay. We learned that expert birders don't use coloration so much as bird calls, habitat and behavior to identify birds.

A few weeks ago on the regular Wednesday walk we saw a merlin perched in a tree. Today the Raptor Special was a Harriot [I don't even know how to spell it.] Characteristic of this medium-sized hawk is that it circles fairly near the ground, hunting for small mammals, as well as having a white bar across the back. That was my high point. We saw it on the way out the dike towards the boardwalk, and later again on the way back.

The tide was out, so we saw one lone heron, and that was about it for shore birds.

Walking back down the near boardwalk towards the center, the temperature dropped, and with a smattering of rain, the forest woke up. We saw a lot of flycatchers of various types, heard and [maybe?] saw Western Warblers and a Downy Woodpecker, and something very rare, which I would have mistaken for any ordinary [i.e. Mallard] duck: a ring-neck duck. Despite the name, it does not have a ring at the neck.

For the mammals, we watched a small family of fat raccoons waddle across the algae surface at the far shore of the pond, and two fawns--but no sign of the mother. On the drive home I saw the shattered body of a doe next to the freeway in the area, and hoped that she was not the mama.