*SAS ANKENY NWR FIELD TRIP SUMMARY*
For today's Salem Audubon birding field trip at Ankeny NWR, Barbara, Fred,
Kay and I were joined by eight (8) other birders. The weather was cold
with temperatures between 44 and 48 degrees but it felt colder. We made
seven stops around the refuge with the Eagle Marsh area being the most
productive. We identified (saw or heard) 55 species.
*Most notable sightings:*
· The sighting of the day was a *Red-necked Phalarope* that was with
four *Red Phalaropes*. We know this is a rare sighting but we got good
scope views of all of these phalaropes and were able to compare them
closely. The phalaropes were seen from the second pullout on the right
side of Buena Vista Road just before you reach Eagle Marsh. From the
pullout the phalaropes were on the left side near the edge of the water and
the field. A later report from Jim noted the *Red Phalaropes* were in the
field to the north of the Willow Tree parking lot;
· Saw five raptors including two *Bald Eagles*, an *American Kestrel*,
four *Northern Harriers*, five *Red-tailed Hawks* and a *Peregrine Falcon*.
The *Red-tailed Hawks* were quite varied in their plumage *i.e.*, from
light to medium dark;
· We saw a lot of ducks especially at Eagle Marsh where the *American
Wigeon* numbers were massive (700 – 800). We saw nine (9) different
species of ducks during the field trip;
· We saw quite a few geese including some *Dusky Canada Geese* with red
tags on them;
· *Tundra Swans* and *Great Egrets* flew over Eagle Marsh towards
Pintail Marsh. Later we saw both species at Pintail Marsh;
· We heard a *Varied Thrush* where the boardwalk begins at the
Rail Trail;
· We did not see or hear any nuthatches or doves.
A complete list of today's birds follows. Our next SAS field trip will be
a SAS-Shorts field trip to *Fairview Wetlands* on *Tuesday, November 29th
at 9:00 a.m.* Meet in the ODFW parking lot at 4034 Fairview Industrial
Drive SE. The next main field trip will be *Minto-Brown Island Park*
on *Thursday,
December 8th at 8:00 am.* Meet in Parking Lot # 3. Please join us if you
can.
The free *CBC Tips and Techniques workshop *is this *Saturday, November
19th* at *10:00 AM*. The workshop is at the ODFW Classroom located at 4034
Fairview Industrial Dr SE. The workshop is free.
Mike Unger
Keizer, Oregon
*Ankeny NWR Checklist Summary for November 16, 2016*
*Number of Species: 55*
Checklists included in this summary:
Ankeny NWR – *Note:* We do not have a specific location/hotspot breakout
for this field trip.
4500 Cackling Goose
52 Canada Goose (moffitti/maxima)
50 Canada Goose (parvipes)
16 Tundra Swan
6 Gadwall
1300 American Wigeon
220 Mallard
22 Northern Shoveler
170 Northern Pintail
36 Green-winged Teal
10 Lesser Scaup
14 Bufflehead
1 Ruddy Duck
3 Pied-billed Grebe
1 Eared Grebe
1 Great Blue Heron
22 Great Egret
4 Northern Harrier
2 Bald Eagle
5 Red-tailed Hawk
28 American Coot
1 Killdeer
120 Dunlin
20 Long-billed Dowitcher
1 Red-necked Phalarope – Seen with Red Phalaropes, slightly smaller, more
black on top of head, streaked back.
4 Red Phalarope
1 Greater Yellowlegs
7 Glaucous-winged Gull
2 Belted Kingfisher
1 Downy Woodpecker
3 Northern Flicker
1 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)
3 American Kestrel
1 Peregrine Falcon
2 California Scrub-Jay
3 American Crow
6 Black-capped Chickadee
32 Bushtit
2 Pacific Wren
3 Marsh Wren
1 Bewick's Wren
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
5 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
14 American Robin
1 Varied Thrush
4 European Starling
2 Yellow-rumped Warbler
2 Fox Sparrow
2 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
10 White-crowned Sparrow
2 Savannah Sparrow
10 Song Sparrow
1 Lincoln's Sparrow
6 Spotted Towhee
2 Red-winged Blackbird
50 Brewer's Blackbird
1 House Finch
