What a beautiful day to visit the wildlife refuge! It seemed like a lot of people had the same idea I had. The main parking lot was nearly full when I arrived around 9:15, but it didn’t feel very crowded on the boardwalk and trails. The boardwalks were a little slippery from the recent rain, but it wasn’t a problem. In fact, I saw people using a wheelchair and power scooters! As a FYI, the end of the boardwalk and viewing platform are still seasonally closed until February 4th. 

Overall, I walked nearly 4 miles this morning and saw a variety of ducks, scoters, Canadian geese, a bald eagle, and most excitingly a ring neck pheasant! No seals or heron this morning, unfortunately. The fields are currently serving as wetlands from the rain and there are a ton of birds to check out there. If you have the time, Nisqually Wildlife Refuge!

This wildlife refuge never disappoints. I go early to avoid the crowds that inevitably fill the boardwalk. The place is well managed, lots of boardwalk and gravel trails and you just can't beat the birding and wildlife viewing. Leave for $3 (or more) at the visitor center kiosk and enjoy the PNW's best. Lots of signage to understand what you're seeing and a great place to educate youngsters about the natural world. More photos on a blog post linked below. No dogs allowed here and please don't ever feed wildlife. 

On this BEAUTIFUL sunny day, we enjoyed 4 hours of meandering at Nisqually NWR along with many, many others! Although there were not many birds to be seen as we were there at an outgoing tide and the ducks and shorebirds were mostly in the distance. It was a beautiful area to enjoy our first outing of the year!

Just a quick trip to burn some toddler energy on the way to visit family in Portland. I don’t know my birds well, but we enjoyed spotting the waterfowl, a few big raptors and listening for songbirds and a frog (toad?).

Parking lot was pretty full and a few folks/families were out strolling or birdwatching but it never felt crowded.

Nice, heated bathrooms and a lovely gift shop.

Always love a visit here. Pretty special spot.

Got to the parking lot at around 9:45am on a Saturday morning and there were plenty of parking spots. Paid for parking (don't forget to bring cash for the $3 fee) and then used the restroom facilities before I started my walk. It was a very cold and foggy, but dry morning. The boardwalk was very well maintained and the views of the trees and river were still very pretty even though there was fog. The only wildlife I saw were ducks in the water and I heard some birds chirping, but couldn't find where they were perching. It was an easy and peaceful walk through the Reserve and plan to come back during different seasons.