*SAS ANKENY NWR FIELD TRIP SUMMARY*
For today's Salem Audubon birding field trip at Ankeny NWR, Barbara, Fred
and I were joined by six other birders. The nine of us braved the wet and
cold weather but were rewarded with a few nice finds. The temperature at
the start was 44 degrees and it was 49 degrees at the finish but it felt
much colder. We had at least a quarter of an inch of rain during the field
trip which ended a little early due to the weather conditions. We made
four stops around the refuge including the Overlook, Pintail Marsh, Eagle
Marsh and the Willow Tree area. We identified (saw or heard) 35 species.
*Most notable sightings:*
· One of the highlights was hearing a *Sora* at the Overlook. It was
down toward Peregrine Marsh which had a lot of water in it. At first we
heard a faint, single Ker-wee call then about two minutes later we heard
the more familiar whee-hee-hee-hee-hee call. Usually Soras are not here at
this time of year but at least one other Sora was reported at Talking Water
Gardens about 20 days ago;
· We observed 40 *American Pipits* in the field near the Willow Tree;
· Three *Bald Eagles* including an adult and two immature eagles;
· We saw a lot of ducks including *American Wigeon*, *Mallard*, *Northern
Shoveler*, *Northern Pintail*, *Green-winged Teal*, *Ring-necked Duck*,
*Bufflehead* and *Ruddy Duck*. The *Green-winged Teal* had the highest
count of 423. We did not see the *Canvasbacks *that have been reported
recently;
· There were 102 *Tundra Swans* seen but no *Trumpeter Swans*;
· We heard one *Western Meadowlark* and saw two other meadowlarks.
A complete list of today's birds follows. Our next SAS field trip will be
a SAS Shorts trip at Cascades Gateway Park on *Tuesday, January 26th at
9:00 a.m.* Meet at the parking lot. Then we have the Minto-Brown Island
Park field trip on *Thursday, February 4th at 8:00 a.m.* Please join us if
you can.
Mike Unger
Keizer, OR
*Ankeny NWR Checklist Summary for January 17, 2016*
*Number of Species: 35*
*Checklists included in this summary: 5*
(1): Ankeny NWR--Eagle Marsh Overlook @ 7:55 AM
(2): Ankeny NWR-- Eagle Marsh @ 8:34 AM
(3): Willow Tree area @ 9:28 AM
(4): Ankeny NWR--Pintail Marsh @ 9:56 AM
(5): Ankeny Hill Road @ 10:30 AM
2070 Cackling Goose -- (1),(2),(3)
45 Canada Goose (occidentalis/fulva) -- (1),(2)
10 Canada Goose (parvipes) -- (2)
500 Cackling/Canada Goose -- (1)
102 Tundra Swan -- (2),(3),(4)
104 American Wigeon -- (2),(3)
46 Mallard -- (2),(4)
15 Northern Shoveler -- (2),(3),(4)
69 Northern Pintail -- (2),(3),(4)
423 Green-winged Teal -- (2),(3)
65 Ring-necked Duck -- (2)
21 Bufflehead -- (2),(4)
8 Hooded Merganser -- (4)
50 Ruddy Duck -- (2),(4)
1 Pied-billed Grebe -- (2)
1 Double-crested Cormorant -- (2)
2 Great Blue Heron -- (4)
1 Northern Harrier -- (3)
3 Bald Eagle -- (2),(3),(4)
1 Red-tailed Hawk -- (4)
1 Sora -- (1)
18 American Coot -- (2),(4)
1 Killdeer -- (1)
1 peep sp. -- (2)
1 Eurasian-collared Dove – (2)
2 Northern Flicker -- (1)
4 American Kestrel -- (1),(2),(5)
1 Western Scrub-Jay -- (1)
8 American Crow -- (1)
8 American Robin -- (1)
5 European Starling -- (1)
40 American Pipit -- (3)
6 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) -- (2)
1 White-crowned Sparrow -- (1)
17 Golden-crowned Sparrow -- (2),(3)
8 Red-winged Blackbird -- (1),(2),(3),(4)
3 Western Meadowlark -- (3)
100 Brewer's Blackbird -- (3)
60 passerine sp. -- (1)
