*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 three other birders. The weather was very nice
with 59 degrees at the start and warming up to 68 degrees at the end. We
made three stops around the refuge including the Overlook, Pintail Marsh
and the Rail Trail. We identified (saw or heard) 53 species.
*Most notable sightings:*
- We saw one *Great Egret,* three *Great Blue Herons, two American
White Pelicans and an American Bittern* at Pintail Marsh;
- Saw quite a few shorebirds including 42 *Long-Billed Dowitchers*,
five *Least Sandpipers*, two *Spotted Sandpipers*, 12 *Greater Yellowlegs*,
one *Lesser Yellowlegs* and 10 *Killdeer. *All this activity was at
Pintail Marsh. We were unable to find the* Semipalmated Plover *that Roy
reported seeing earlier in the week;
- We saw several *Black-headed Grosbeaks* including a female that
stayed low and out in the open for quite a while and a young grosbeak;
- The Rail Trail gave us some good looks at *Downy* and *Hairy
Woodpeckers*. There was a family of *Downy Woodpeckers* flitting around in
the trees on the right side of the trail just before you get to the
boardwalk. A pair of *Hairy Woodpeckers *were in the trees on the right
side of the trail too. We got a real good look at the male *Hairy
Woodpecker*;
- The only warblers we observed were *Common Yellowthroats* and *Yellow
Warblers*. We were very fortunate to get good looks at quite a few
warblers including first year *Common Yellowthroat*. The warblers were on
both the west and east sides of Pintail Marsh. We also saw a family of *Common
Yellowthroats*;
- On the Rail Trail we observed two *Brown Creepers* and saw one of
them going up a tree trunk.
A complete list of today's birds follows. Our next SAS field trip will be
an SAS Shorts field trip on *Wednesday, July 27th* to *Keizer Rapids Park*.
Meet in the parking lot near the boat ramp at *9:00 a.m*. We will walk a
mile or so around the edges of the park that should take about one hour or
so. The following field trip will be to Minto-Brown Island Park on *Sunday,
August 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 *Songbirds Part 2 Workshop* at the ODFW Classroom
on *Saturday, July 30th*! It starts at 10:00 a.m. should finish around
12:00 noon. There is a short field trip to Fairview Wetlands across the
street immediately following the workshop. This workshop is a bargain at
$10.00 per person. Reservations preferred - Call the Salem Audubon office
at 503-588-7340 to reserve your spot. All proceeds from the workshop go
directly to Salem Audubon Society.
Mike Unger
Keizer, OR
*Ankeny NWR Checklist Summary for July 23, 2016*
*Number of Species: 53*
*Checklists included in this summary: 3*
(1): Ankeny NWR--Eagle Marsh Overlook @ 6:48 AM
(2): Ankeny NWR--Pintail Marsh @ 7:20 AM
(3): Ankeny NWR—Rail Trail @ 10:20 AM
110 Canada Goose -- (2)
16 Mallard -- (2)
1 Pied-billed Grebe -- (2)
2 American White Pelican -- (2)
1 American Bittern -- (2)
3 Great Blue Heron -- (2)
1 Great Egret -- (2)
1 Turkey Vulture -- (2)
1 Red-tailed Hawk -- (2)
10 Killdeer -- (2)
2 Spotted Sandpiper -- (2)
12 Greater Yellowlegs -- (2)
1 Lesser Yellowlegs -- (2)
5 Least Sandpiper -- (2)
42 Long-billed Dowitcher -- (2)
4 Eurasian Collared-Dove -- (1),(2)
1 Vaux's Swift -- (2)
1 Anna's Hummingbird -- (2)
1 Belted Kingfisher -- (2)
5 Downy Woodpecker -- (2),(3)
2 Hairy Woodpecker -- (3)
1 Northern Flicker -- (2)
1 American Kestrel -- (1)
2 Western Wood-Pewee -- (3)
1 Western Scrub-Jay -- (1)
25 American Crow -- (1)
3 Tree Swallow -- (2)
2 Violet-green Swallow -- (2)
5 Barn Swallow -- (2)
1 Cliff Swallow -- (1)
52 swallow sp. -- (2)
13 Black-capped Chickadee -- (2),(3)
20 Bushtit -- (2)
2 Brown Creeper -- (3)
2 Bewick's Wren -- (2)
7 Swainson's Thrush -- (2),(3)
20 American Robin -- (1),(2),(3)
1 European Starling -- (2)
24 Cedar Waxwing -- (2),(3)
12 Common Yellowthroat -- (2)
5 Yellow Warbler -- (2),(3)
3 White-crowned Sparrow -- (2)
4 Savannah Sparrow -- (2)
6 Song Sparrow -- (1),(2),(3)
4 Spotted Towhee -- (2)
4 Black-headed Grosbeak -- (2)
1 Lazuli Bunting -- (1)
45 Red-winged Blackbird -- (2)
4 Brewer's Blackbird -- (2)
7 Brown-headed Cowbird -- (2)
1 House Finch -- (2)
1 Purple Finch -- (3)
3 Lesser Goldfinch -- (2)
27 American Goldfinch -- (1),(2),(3)
6 passerine sp. -- (2),(3)
