SAS Minto-Brown Island Park Bird Walk Report

[ung...@gmail.com]

SAS Minto-Brown Island Park Bird Walk Report

August 10, 2025 

This morning, Tim, Paul, and I led the Salem Audubon bird walk at Minto-Brown Island Park. We were joined by 12 enthusiastic birders for a pleasant outing under clear skies, with variable winds ranging from 5 to 13 mph. Temperatures were 66 to 75 degrees, per Salem NWS data. Our route covered 2.25 miles along the Purple Rabbit and Blue Heron Trails at the west end of the park. The walk lasted just over two hours, allowing us to wrap up before the day’s heat set in. By the time we finished, we had observed—either by sight or sound—a total of 34 species, slightly fewer than the roughly 40 species we have tallied in recent years. The highlights were as follows:

·         The star of the day was a Barred Owl in a tree down the second trail to the left off the main trail from parking lot #3.  Several park visitors stopped to view the owl with us.

·        We saw six young Wood Ducks on the Oxbow Slough along with a Green Heron.  There also were two Belted Kingfishers, a Great Blue Heron, a Mallard, and Pied-billed Grebe.

·         We observed four raptor species besides the Barred Owl including Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, and American Kestrel. We did not see a Bald Eagle.

·        The most numerous birds were the American Goldfinch (10) and Black-capped Chickadee (7).

·         We observed only two of the five expected woodpecker species. We heard several Northern Flickers and saw several Downy Woodpeckers. 

·         We heard several nuthatches during our bird walk including White-breasted Nuthatch (4) and Red-breasted Nuthatch (1).

·       Our only warbler of the day was a Yellow Warbler whose song we caught amid an otherwise quiet morning, as most species were conserving their voices while preparing to molt and migrate. 

The upcoming events include: 

Illahe Hills CC Bird Walk, Monday, August 18, 2025 at 8:00 AM  Meet in front of the clubhouse. Park in the main parking area, not in front of the clubhouse!  Please contact the leader at paule...@gmail.com to confirm your registration for this trip.

Baskett Slough NWR bird walk, Thursday, August 21, 2025 at 9:00 AM.  Meet at the Rich Guadagno Trailhead off of Coville Rd.

Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge, Sunday, May 19th at 8:00 AM.  Meet at the Ankeny Hill Nature Center off Ankeny Hill Road SE at 8:00 am.

Please join us if you can. 

Mike Unger

Keizer, OR 

Minto-Brown Island Park Checklist Summary for August 10, 2025

Identified Species: 34

6 Wood Duck
6 Mallard
1 Mourning Dove
1 Spotted Sandpiper
1 Pied-billed Grebe
2 Green Heron
2 Great Blue Heron
2 Turkey Vulture
2 Osprey
1 Red-tailed Hawk
1 Barred Owl
4 Belted Kingfisher
5 Downy Woodpecker
5 Northern Flicker
1 American Kestrel
6 Western Wood-Pewee
2 Steller's Jay
5 California Scrub-Jay
7 Black-capped Chickadee
3 Barn Swallow
4 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
5 Brown Creeper
1 Bewick's Wren
2 European Starling
4 American Robin
2 Cedar Waxwing
2 House Finch
1 Purple Finch
10 American Goldfinch
1 White-crowned Sparrow
5 Song Sparrow
6 Spotted Towhee
1 Yellow Warbler

View this checklist online at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S266386435

Here is a tracking map of our bird walk: see below

The bird walk started at Parking Lot #3 and continued for 2.25 miles along the Purple Rabbit and Blue Heron Trails on the west side of the park.