*SAS Ankeny NWR Scouting Trip Report*
Hello all -
Barbara, Fred, Tim and I scouted Ankeny NWR in preparation for our Salem
Audubon bird walk on *Sunday, January 15th at 8:00 a.m.* The four of us
covered four locations around the refuge including Eagle Marsh Overlook,
Eagle Marsh, the Willow Tree Parking lot and a complete trip around the
refuge. We waited until 10:00 AM to start hoping it would warm up but it
was still cold. It was 37 degrees at the start and 40 degrees at the end
but it felt a lot colder especially when the wind picked up late in the
walk. The most activity was at Eagle Marsh but the Willow Tree parking lot
had some good birds too. During the scouting trip we identified 31 species.
Most notable identifications:
- It was a very good raptor day. We saw 10 *Bald Eagles* with most
of them being immature eagles. There were five or six Bald Eagles at Eagle
Marsh alone. Also a *Rough-legged Hawk* flew across Wintel Rd. near its
intersection with Jorgenson Rd. Then there was a *Cooper’s Hawk* in the
trees at the corner of Marlatt Rd. and Wintel Rd. Other raptors
included a *Peregrine
Falcon*, *American Kestrel*, a *Red-tailed Hawk* and six *Northern Harriers*
with most of them being female harriers;
- We saw nine (9) duck species during the trip including *American
Wigeon*, *Mallard*, *Northern Shoveler*, *Northern Pintail*, *Ring-necked
Duck*, *Lesser Scaup*, *Bufflehead,* *Hooded Merganser *and *Ruddy Duck. *Most
of the ducks were seen at Eagle Marsh;
- In the field at the Willow Tree Parking Lot we saw some *American
Pipits*, a *Least Sandpiper* and lots of *Killdeer*.
A complete list of today's birds follows. Our next SAS field trip will be
at Ankeny NWR on *Sunday, January 15th at 8:00 a.m.* Meet at the Overlook
off of Ankeny Hill Road. The next SAS Shorts is at Cascades Gateway Park
on *Tuesday*, *January 24th* at *9:00 a.m.* Meet at the parking lot.
Please join us if you can.
Mike Unger
Keizer, OR
*Checklist Summary for January 9, 2017*
Number of Checklists: 4
Number of Species: 31
Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Ankeny NWR--Ankeny Hill Overlook @ 9:58 AM
(2): Ankeny NWR--Eagle Marsh @ 10:30 AM
(3): Ankeny NWR (entire loop) -- @ 11:20 AM
(4): Ankeny NWR--Willow Tree Parking Lot @ 12:28 PM
5128 Cackling Goose – (2),(3),(4)
11 Canada Goose – (2),(3)
68 Tundra Swan -- (2),(3)
1 American Wigeon -- (2)
110 Mallard -- (2),(3)
75 Northern Shoveler -- (2),(3)
279 Northern Pintail -- (2),(3),(4)
1 Ring-necked Duck -- (2)
10 Lesser Scaup -- (2)
16 Bufflehead -- (2),(3)
4 Hooded Merganser -- (2)
15 Ruddy Duck -- (2),(3)
1 Great Blue Heron -- (2)
3 Great Egret -- (2),(4)
6 Northern Harrier -- (3),(4)
1 Cooper's Hawk -- (3)
10 Bald Eagle -- (2),(3)
1 Red-tailed Hawk -- (2)
1 Rough-legged Hawk -- (3)
139 American Coot -- (2),(3)
56 Killdeer -- (1),(3),(4)
1 Least Sandpiper -- (4)
5 Glaucous-winged Gull -- (2),(3)
2 American Kestrel – (3)
1 Peregrine Falcon -- (2)
3 California Scrub-Jay -- (3)
1 Black-capped Chickadee -- (3)
4 American Robin -- (3),(4)
160 European Starling -- (3),(4)
7 American Pipit -- (4)
3 Song Sparrow -- (2),(3)
10 blackbird sp. -- (1)
15 passerine sp. -- (3),(4)
