*SAS ANKENY NWR FIELD TRIP SUMMARY*
For today's Salem Audubon birding field trip at Ankeny NWR, only the four
field trip leaders *i.e.*, Barbara, Fred, Kay and I showed up for the field
trip. One other birder joined us about one hour later. The weather
conditions were far from ideal as it was cold and quite windy (17 mph with
higher gusts) but little to no rain. The temperature at the start was 52
degrees and it was 54 degrees at the finish but it felt 10 degrees cooler
with the wind. We made seven (7) stops around the refuge including the
Overlook, Pintail Marsh and Eagle Marsh. We also went to Duckflat Road for
a quick look. The birding was like the weather as we identified (saw or
heard) only 29 species. The marshes do have quite a bit of water in them
now.
*Most notable sightings:*
- There were quite a few ducks since the water level is up in the
marshes. There were five species of ducks including *Mallard*, *Northern
Pintail*, *Green-winged Teal*, *Gadwall* and *American Wigeon*. *Mallards*
made up the largest number of ducks with 130;
- There were 801 *Cackling Geese* and 87 *Canada Geese* with most
of them seen at Pintail Marsh;
- We saw 13 *Long-billed Dowitchers* at Pintail Marsh. It was surprising
that we only observed 3 *Killdeer* since we had at least 65 *Killdeer*
during the scouting trip;
- There was very little activity along Duckflat Road. Surprisingly there
was not much water in the fields there. We saw quite a few kestrels,
goldfinches and heard a *Western Meadowlark* but there was no waterfowl;
- As far as raptors go we observed a *Sharp-shinned Hawk*, two *Northern
Harriers*, six *American Kestrels* and a *Red-tailed Hawk*.
A complete list of today's birds follows. Our next SAS field trip is an
SAS Short field trip to *Brown’s Ferry Park* in Tualatin on
*Thursday,* *October
27th at 8:30 AM*. This is a change as St. Louis Ponds are flooded. Meet
at the Pilot Travel Center near Brooks (Exit 263), park in the parking lot
to the west of the station near the Chalet Restaurant. The next field trip
after that is at Minto-Brown Island Park on *Sunday, November 6th at 8:00
a.m. (Note time change)!* Meet in parking lot #3. Please join us if you
can.
Mike Unger
Keizer, OR
*Ankeny NWR Checklist Summary for October 16, 2016*
*Number of Species: 29*
*Checklists included in this summary: 8*
(1): Ankeny NWR--Eagle Marsh Overlook @ 6:56 AM
(2): First pullout on right side of Buena Vista Road @ 7:18 AM
(3): Second pullout on right side of Buena Vista Road @ 7:26 AM
(4): Ankeny NWR-- Eagle Marsh @ 7:41 AM
(5): Ankeny NWR--Eagle Marsh Overlook @ 7:58 AM
(6): Ankeny NWR--Pintail Marsh @ 8:23 AM
(7): Willow Tree parking lot @ 8:48 AM
(8): Duckflat Road @ 9:27 AM
801 Cackling Goose -- (4),(5),(6),(7)
20 Canada Goose -- (4)
67 Canada Goose (moffitti/maxima) -- (6),(7)
2 Gadwall -- (6)
42 American Wigeon -- (4),(6)
130 Mallard -- (3),(4),(6)
13 Northern Pintail -- (4),(6)
144 Green-winged Teal -- (4),(6)
1 Great Blue Heron -- (6)
13 Great Egret -- (4),(5),(6),(7)
2 Northern Harrier -- (6)
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk -- (6)
1 Red-tailed Hawk -- (6)
3 Killdeer -- (1),(5)
15 Long-billed Dowitcher -- (4),(6)
2 Northern Flicker -- (4)
6 American Kestrel -- (8)
2 California Scrub-Jay -- (8)
4 American Crow -- (4)
2 Black-capped Chickadee -- (3)
1 Bewick's Wren -- (3)
59 European Starling -- (3),(4),(5)
2 Yellow-rumped Warbler -- (3)
4 White-crowned Sparrow -- (3),(7)
6 Song Sparrow -- (3),(7)
2 Spotted Towhee -- (2),(3)
100 Red-winged Blackbird -- (6)
145 Brewer's Blackbird -- (6),(7)
1 Western Meadowlark – (8)
50 American Goldfinch – (8)
6 passerine sp. -- (2),(3)
