*SAS Minto-Brown Island Park *
*Special New Year’s Field Trip Report*
Tim, Barbara, Kay and I were joined by 17 other birdwatchers including a
couple of first-time participants for our annual New Year’s Day field
trip. We walked 3.4 miles covering the west side of the park (Blue and
part of the Purple Trails). The weather was very cold with some wind. It
was 31 degrees (wind chill 23°) at the start and 40 degrees (WC - 32°) when
we finished around 12:15 p.m. The bird activity was still pretty good
despite the cold as we identified (seen and/or heard) a total of 34
species.
The highlights were as follows:
· We saw two *Golden-crowned Kinglets* and seven (7) *Ruby-crowned
Kinglets*. The sightings were great as almost everyone was able to see
both kinglets and a couple of the *Ruby-crowned Kinglets* were showing
their ruby red crests;
· We saw four *Bald Eagles* flying above us. Three were immature
eagles and one adult eagle;
· We saw a couple of mixed flocks of birds that included
*Chestnut-backed
Chickadees *(10), *Black-capped Chickadees *(6), *Brown Creepers* (10) and
the kinglets;
· We saw two flocks of *Bushtits* with a total of 32 birds in them;
· We observed two *Pacific Wrens* that most everyone got to see even
if it was for only a few seconds;
· There were 40 *Dark-eyed Juncos* in a field off the Blue Trail
near the Purple Trail. We were hoping we were seeing a *White-throated
Sparrow* mixed in the flock but it turned out to be an immature *White-crowned
Sparrow*;
· There were 166 *Mallards* as well as some *Northern
Pintails*, *American
Wigeons *and *Green-winged Teal*. No *Wood Ducks* were seen today.
· The main misses of the day were a *White and Red-breasted
Nuthatches, Anna’s Hummingbird, American Kestrel and Pileated Woodpecker*.
A complete list of today's birds follows. *Our next SAS field trip* will
be at Minto-Brown on Wednes*day, January 6th at 8:00 a.m. The next SAS
Shorts trip is Tuesday, January 26th at 9:00 a.m. Please join us if you
can.*
Mike Unger
Keizer, OR
*Minto-Brown Island Park Checklist Summary for January 1, 2016*
*Identified Species: 34*
100 Cackling Goose
2 Canada Goose (moffitti/maxima)
11 American Wigeon
166 Mallard
4 Northern Pintail
3 Green-winged Teal
4 Common Merganser
4 Pied-billed Grebe
5 Double-crested Cormorant
1 Accipiter sp.
4 Bald Eagle
5 Red-tailed Hawk
1 Buteo sp.
32 Killdeer
1 Belted Kingfisher
5 Downy Woodpecker
3 Northern Flicker
3 Steller's Jay
5 Western Scrub-Jay
8 American Crow
6 Black-capped Chickadee
10 Chestnut-backed Chickadee
32 Bushtit
10 Brown Creeper
2 Pacific Wren
7 Bewick's Wren
2 Golden-crowned Kinglet
7 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
13 American Robin
1 European Starling
1 Fox Sparrow
50 Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)
3 White-crowned Sparrow
34 Golden-crowned Sparrow
3 Song Sparrow
5 Spotted Towhee
2 passerine sp.
