Hello birders:
*SAS ANKENY NWR FIELD TRIP SUMMARY*
For today's Salem Audubon birding field trip at Ankeny NWR, Barbara, Fred
and I were joined by nine other birders. The weather was cool at the start
(48 degrees) but warmed up to 66 degrees at the end. We made five stops
around the refuge including the Overlook, Pintail Marsh, Pintail-Egret
Marsh Boardwalk, Eagle Marsh and a productive pullout on the left side of
Buena Vista Road. We identified (saw or heard) 52 species.
*Most notable sightings:*
· We saw 87 *Great Egrets* and 12 *Great Blue Herons* at Pintail Marsh.
This was the highest number of *Great Egrets* that many of us had ever seen
at one time;
· Saw a lot of shorebirds at Eagle Marsh with most of them being seen on
the northwest corner of the marsh. The shorebirds included a *Baird’s
Sandpiper*, *Pectoral Sandpiper*, *Least Sandpiper*, *Wilson’s Snipe*, *Greater
Yellowlegs*, *Long-billed Dowitcher* and *Killdeer*;
· One *Peregrine Falcon *dove towards the water at Eagle Marsh. It scared
most of the birds including the dowitchers which started to fly around in
their formation;
· A pair of *Western Meadowlarks* at the Overlook with the male singing
away;
· A far as raptors go we observed a *Red-tailed Hawk*, *Northern
Harrier*, *Cooper’s
Hawk*, *American Kestrel* and the *Peregrine Falcon*;
· Several in the group observed a *Lincoln’s Sparrow* while others were
checking out the shorebirds at Eagle Marsh. The sparrow was seen along the
ditch on the east side of the first driveway;
· We only saw a single *Canada Goose* which was very surprising.
A complete list of today's birds follows. Our next SAS field trip will be
an SAS Shorts field trip on *September 24th* to *Cascade Gateway Park* off
of Turner Road. Meet in the parking lot at *9:00 a.m*. We will walk a
mile or less around the lake which should take about one hour. The
following field trip will be to Minto-Brown Island Park on *Wednesday,
October 7th at 7:00 a.m.* Meet at Parking Lot #3 at the end of Minto
Island Road. Please join us if you can.
*Note: *Don’t forget the *Birds and Wine* event at Left Coast Cellars
on *Sunday,
September 27th*! It is sure to be a memorable event as we bird in the
morning followed by a nice lunch and wine tasting afterwards. It starts at
9:00 a.m. and we should finish around 1:00 p.m. This event is a bargain at
$50.00 per person. Make your reservations now by calling the Salem Audubon
office at 503-588-7340 to reserve your spot. This event is a Salem Audubon
Society fundraiser. Thanks for your support.
Mike Unger
Keizer, OR
*Ankeny NWR Checklist Summary for September 19, 2015*
*Number of Species: 52*
*Checklists included in this summary: 5*
(1): Ankeny NWR--Eagle Marsh Overlook @ 6:57 AM
(2): Pullout on left side of Buena Vista Road @ 7:49 AM
(3): Pintail and Egret Marsh--Boardwalk and Blind @ 8:09 AM
(4): Ankeny NWR--Pintail Marsh @ 8:39 AM
(5): Ankeny NWR--Eagle Marsh @ 9:26 AM
1 Canada Goose -- (4)
150 Mallard -- (4),(5)
4 Northern Pintail -- (4),(5)
5 Green-winged Teal -- (4)
12 Great Blue Heron -- (4)
87 Great Egret -- (4)
1 Turkey Vulture -- (5)
4 Northern Harrier -- (1),(4)
1 Cooper's Hawk -- (4)
2 Red-tailed Hawk -- (2),(4)
23 Killdeer -- (1),(4),(5)
9 Greater Yellowlegs -- (3),(4),(5)
4 Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs -- (5)
1 Baird's Sandpiper -- (5)
1 Least Sandpiper -- (4)
2 Pectoral Sandpiper -- (5)
3 peep sp. -- (4)
77 Long-billed Dowitcher -- (4),(5)
3 Wilson's Snipe -- (5)
2 Eurasian Collared-Dove -- (2),(4)
8 Mourning Dove -- (1),(2)
3 Belted Kingfisher -- (3),(4)
1 Red-breasted Sapsucker -- (3)
4 Downy Woodpecker -- (1),(2),(3)
1 Northern Flicker -- (5)
5 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) -- (1),(5)
3 American Kestrel -- (1),(2)
1 Peregrine Falcon -- (5)
5 Western Scrub-Jay -- (1),(5)
6 American Crow -- (1),(3),(4),(5)
53 Barn Swallow -- (1),(4),(5)
1 swallow sp. -- (2)
11 Black-capped Chickadee -- (2),(3),(5)
20 Bushtit – (3)
2 Brown Creeper -- (3)
1 Marsh Wren -- (5)
3 Bewick's Wren -- (3),(5)
1 Swainson's Thrush -- (4)
6 American Robin – (3),(5)
12 European Starling -- (1),(2),(4),(5)
11 Cedar Waxwing -- (2),(3),(5)
5 Common Yellowthroat -- (5)
1 Fox Sparrow (Sooty) -- (2)
2 White-crowned Sparrow -- (4)
4 Savannah Sparrow -- (2),(3),(5)
16 Song Sparrow -- (1),(2),(3),(4),(5)
1 Lincoln's Sparrow -- (5)
2 Spotted Towhee -- (2),(5)
1 Western Tanager -- (2)
4 Red-winged Blackbird -- (1),(3),(5)
2 Western Meadowlark -- (1)
11 Brewer's Blackbird -- (1),(4)
2 House Finch -- (5)
1 Lesser Goldfinch -- (2)
1 American Goldfinch -- (1)
1 House Sparrow -- (4)
