Birders' Top Spots: Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

Location: Off Interstate 5, north of Olympia

Habitat: 4,000-acre river delta with forest, salt and freshwater wetlands, meadows, deciduous riparian woodlands, salt marsh, and Puget Sound mudflats.

Best season for birding: Good year-round. Excellent sightings now.

Birds commonly seen: In winter, watch for Peregrine falcons, merlins and bald eagles, as 6,000 waterfowl gather in freshwater ponds: northern pintails, American and a few Eurasian wigeons, Canada and cackling geese, and green-winged teal. Spring foliage shelters western tanagers; and orange-crowned, yellow, yellow-rumped, MacGillivray's, and Wilson's warblers, while bushtits and spotted towhees sing in brush and rufous hummingbirds flit in wildflowers. Meadows attract song and Savannah sparrows, short-eared owls and northern harriers. Great horned owls sleep in trees near Twin Barns. American bitterns and marsh wrens skulk in wetlands year-round.

Viewing: Walk 1.1-mile ADA-standard Twin Barns Loop and 5.5-mile Brown Farm Loop on outer dike (closed in hunting season, October-January).

Getting there: From Interstate 5, take Exit 114 (Nisqually). Turn north onto Nisqually Cutoff Road. Drive 0.1 mile. Turn right (east) into wildlife refuge. Drive a half-mile to parking areas. $3 entry fee per family.

Source: Audubon Washington, Great Washington State Birding Trail maps. To order maps (Cascade Loop, Coulee Corridor, Olympic Loop or Southwest Loop), go online to www.wa.audubon.org. Call toll-free, 866-922-4737, for more information.