Tuesday, August 07, 2007 – Olympia – Nisqually Refuge

Things have been busy with various activities of LIFE. Nothing monumental, but life goes on, even on the road. After reading about some of the local “things-to-do”, we decided to check out the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.

Originally, the area was a “normal” delta formed by several creeks and rivers, ending at the south end of Puget Sound – between Olympia and Tacoma. In 1904 (approximately), a local farmer built earth dikes to keep the saltwater out of his 1,000 acre farm. Four local artesian wells supply fresh water that mix with the saltwater forming new wildlife habitats for various birds and mammals.

Ironically, the local politicians are talking about removing the dikes and allowing the saltwater to reclaim the land. We wonder if we should tell them about a similar situation on Amelia Island (and the Egan Creek changes), but decided they wouldn’t listen!

We’re off tomorrow to explore some earthen mounds south of us as well as a forest reputed to be quite interesting.

At the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, there were many swallows, including the photo of the chicks of three, tucked under the visitor center eave. Mama swallow was close by and ready to swoop in and feed them. We believe they are ready to leave the nest.

The other photo was of a Riparian Forest. The innocuous looking stream bed is actually an inlet of Puget Sound. Although there was very little water when we were there, the tide comes in and covers the stream bed twice a day. Signs along the walk (elevated board walk) showed the wide variety of wildlife that inhabited the area. Other than a couple of deer and lots of small birds, we didn’t see very much that we could identify.

We think we’ll go back on a sunny day and see if we can spot some of the other wildlife – at least get some better photos.