*SAS Minto-Brown Island Park Field Trip Report*
Barbara, Fred and I were joined by eight other birdwatchers for our Salem
Audubon field trip today. We walked 3.25 miles around the Blue Heron and
Purple Rabbit Trails. The weather was a lot better than we expected.
There were some blue skies at times and the rain and wind were bearable.
It was 48 degrees at the start and 54 degrees when we finished around 11:15
a.m. The bird activity was pretty good as noted below. We identified
(seen and/or heard) a total of 46 species.
The highlights were as follows:
We saw a pair of *Barred Owls* across the slough just west of Parking lot
#3;
· It was a five woodpecker day with the *Downy, Hairy and Pileated
Woodpeckers *as well as the *Northern Flicker and Red-breasted Sapsucker.*
We saw two female woodpeckers (a Downy and Pileated) working on nest
cavities;
· We also saw a *Purple Finch* on a dead branch of a tree;
· We saw one *Rufous Hummingbird*;
· We observed three warbler species including *Orange-crowned
Warblers *(14), *Common Yellowthroat *(2) and a *Yellow-rumped Warbler;*
· There were a few wrens around including three *Pacific Wrens* and
10 *Bewick’s Wrens*;
· We also heard three *Brown Creepers* and saw nine *Wood Ducks*;
· It is definitely breeding season as we saw numerous pairs of
birds including *Barred Owls*, *Hooded Mergansers*, *Red-tailed
Hawks*, *Western
Scrub-Jays*, *Wood Ducks, Mallards, American Kestrels* and *Osprey*. In or
near Parking Lot #3 we saw a pair of *Red-tailed Hawks* and *Western
Scrub-Jay* mating.
· The main misses of the day were an *Anna’s Hummingbird*,
*Red-breasted
Nuthatch and Pied-billed Grebe.*
A complete list of today's birds follows. *Our next SAS field trips* are:
1) Talking Water Gardens on *Thursday, April 14th at 8:00 AM*. (Meet on
Mission Street near Jack in the Box). 2) Ankeny NWR on *Sunday, April 17th
at 7:00 a.m. *Meet at the Overlook off Ankeny Hill Road. Please join us
if you can.
Mike Unger
Keizer, OR
*Minto-Brown Island Park Checklist Summary for April 4, 2016*
*Identified Species: 46*
430 Cackling Goose
9 Canada Goose (moffitti/maxima)
9 Wood Duck
5 Mallard
5 Green-winged Teal
2 Hooded Merganser
5 Double-crested Cormorant
2 Great Blue Heron
2 Turkey Vulture
4 Osprey
1 Bald Eagle
3 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Mourning Dove
2 Barred Owl
1 Rufous Hummingbird
1 Belted Kingfisher
1 Red-breasted Sapsucker
3 Downy Woodpecker
2 Hairy Woodpecker
1 Downy/Hairy Woodpecker
5 Northern Flicker
3 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)
2 Pileated Woodpecker
2 American Kestrel
4 Steller's Jay
6 Western Scrub-Jay
4 American Crow
13 Tree Swallow
1 Violet-green Swallow
14 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Bushtit
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
3 Brown Creeper
3 Pacific Wren
10 Bewick's Wren
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
11 American Robin
10 European Starling
14 Orange-crowned Warbler
2 Common Yellowthroat
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler
3 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
8 White-crowned Sparrow
2 Golden-crowned Sparrow
7 Song Sparrow
4 Spotted Towhee
1 House Finch
1 Purple Finch