Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge (Washington) - 10.06.07
On Saturday (October 6, 2007), we headed out for a visit to take photos at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, located just north of Lacey, Washington off of I-5. This was going to be the last weekend that the entire wildlife refuge would be open until February 2008 due to seasonal hunting closures.
The night before, we made all the preparations for a rainy day of shooting photos, including homemade rain protection for our cameras, but the rain never materialized. Lucky us.
We hiked most of the 7 miles of trails at the wildlife refuge, including the 5.5 mile Brown Farm Dike Trail, which follows McAllister Creek to the Nisqually Flats and then to the Nisqually River. It was at low tide for our visit so we had good views of mud flats but no wildlife and very few birds other than ducks and a few herons and sandpipers. In the far distance, we could see a few bald eagles perched on pilings.
Some other visitors noted that a harbor seal has recently been spotted in the Nisqually River feeding on salmon.
Due to the cloudy gray skies all day, so we had to limit the amount of skies present in the photographs.
The trail system is a popular walking route for one of the local retirement communities, so expect a lot of trail users.
You can view all of the photos from this trip at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, Washington.
Tags: ducks, heron, mcallister creek, nisqually, nisqually flats, nisqually national wildlife refuge, nisqually river, outdoors, sandpipers, washington, wetlands