*SAS SHORTS: CASCADES GATEWAY PARK FIELD TRIP SUMMARY*
*January 26, 2016*
Hello Birders:
Fred led our SAS Shorts field trip to Cascades Gateway Park this morning.
It was a cool, damp morning but it did not dampen the enthusiasm of Fred
and the 16 other birders that joined him. It stayed at 50 degrees for the
entire field trip. It rained a little during the field trip but it was not
bad at all. We walked around Walter Wirth Lake which was about a one mile
walk. We spent a good amount of time near the feeders at the south end of
the lake. We identified (saw or heard) 33 species of birds.
Most notable sightings:
· One *Green Heron* on the east side of the lake;
· One *Belted Kingfisher* flew by on the east side of the lake;
· We saw seven (7) *Lesser Scaup* and five (5) *Common Mergansers* on the
lake;
· There were quite a few geese around the park. At one point we were
able to see two *Lesser Canada Geese* (parvipes) among a flock of
larger *Canada
Geese* so people could really see the size difference;
· We also saw three *Brown Creepers* on the east side of the lake.
Everyone got a pretty good look at the creepers.
*Note:* After the field trip four of us went back to the feeder area.
There was quite a bit of activity around the feeders with chickadees,
juncos, towhees and sparrows showing up at the feeders. But the main find
was a *White-throated Sparrow* that gave us several very good looks at it.
A complete list of today's birds follows. *Our next SAS field trip will be
at Minto-Brown Island Park on Thursday, February 4th at 8:00 a.m. *Meet at
parking lot #3 at the end of Minto Island Road. The next *SAS Shorts*
field trip is at *Staats Lake* on *Saturday, February 13th at 10:00 a.m.*
Please join us if you can.
Mike Unger
Keizer, OR
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*Checklist Summary for January 26, 2016 *
42 Cackling Goose
17 Canada Goose
2 Canada Goose (parvipes)
6 Gadwall
60 American Wigeon
25 Mallard
2 Northern Shoveler
7 Lesser Scaup
1 Bufflehead
5 Common Merganser
7 Pied-billed Grebe
13 Double-crested Cormorant
1 Great Blue Heron
1 Green Heron
1 Red-tailed Hawk
72 American Coot
4 Glaucous-winged Gull
1 Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)
10 gull sp.
1 Belted Kingfisher
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)
1 Western Scrub-Jay
5 American Crow
4 Black-capped Chickadee
5 Bushtit
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
3 Brown Creeper
22 American Robin
6 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
2 Song Sparrow
2 Spotted Towhee
50 Red-winged Blackbird
100 Brewer's Blackbird
2 House Finch
