SAS Ankeny NWR Field Trip Report

[ung...@gmail.com]

SAS ANKENY NWR FIELD TRIP SUMMARY

September 21, 2024 

For today's Salem Audubon birding field trip at Ankeny NWR, Paul, and I were joined by 10 other birders.  The weather was nice with clear skies. The temperature ranged between 48 to 63 degrees.  The wind was between 3 to 10 m.p.h.  We did a little birding at the nature center then went to Eagle Marsh and Pintail Marsh.  We walked 1.62 miles at Pintail Marsh as we walked to the back of the marsh to Mohoff Marsh.  The walk took 2.75 hours to complete.  We observed (seen or heard) 58 species, of which 51 species were observed at Pintail and Mohoff Marshes! 

Most notable sightings:

·      The best observations were a Pectoral Sandpiper and Wilson’s Snipe at Eagle Marsh.  We saw the sandpiper on the far side of the marsh just to the left of the kiosk.  We got decent scope views of each bird.

·       There were hundreds of swallows flying over Eagle Marsh.  Most of the swallows were Barn Swallows with a few Violet-green Swallows mixed in.  There were a few more swallows at Pintail Marsh including a few Northern Rough-winged Swallows.

·       We saw a lot of ducks (nine species) at all three marshes (Pintail, Eagle, and Mohoff Marshes).  By far Mallards (290) outnumbered any other species. We also saw Wood Ducks, Northern Pintail, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck, and Common Merganser.

·       We observed six raptor species with the nicest sighting being a Red-shouldered Hawk.  We also saw dueling Northern Harriers, a Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, and Turkey Vulture.

·     Shorebirds and waterfowl included Green Heron (heard only), a Sora (heard only), Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitchers, Killdeer, Great Egret, and Western and Least Sandpipers. It was interesting to see 25 Greater Yellowlegs in a group moving around together.

·       We saw four Greater White-fronted Geese fly over Pintail Marsh too.

·      The biggest misses were Mourning Dove, Anna’s Hummingbird, Downy Woodpecker, and Bald Eagle.

A complete list of today's birds follows.  Our next SAS bird walk is on Monday, September 23rd at 8:00 AM at Illahe Hills CC.  Registered participants should meet in front of the Country Club entrance at 8:00 AM.  Please 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.   

Please join us if you can. 

Mike Unger

Keizer, Oregon 

Ankeny NWR Checklist Summary for September 21, 2024

Number of Species: 58 

Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Ankeny NWR--Ankeny Hill Nature Center @ 7:36 AM

(2): Ankeny NWR-Eagle Marsh @ 7:57 AM

(3): Ankeny NWR-Pintail Marsh @ 8:36 AM 

4 Greater White-fronted Goose (3)
76 Cackling Goose (2)(3)
23 Canada Goose (1)(2)(3)

4 Wood Duck (2)

3 Gadwall (3)
290 Mallard (2)(3)
100 Northern Pintail (2)(3)

2 American Wigeon (2)
1 Green-winged Teal (3)
13 Ring-necked Duck (3)
2 Common Merganser (3)
1 Ruddy Duck (3)
7 Pied-billed Grebe (2)(3)
1 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (3)
1 Eurasian Collared-Dove (3)
1 Vaux's Swift (3)
1 Sora (3)
50 American Coot (2)(3)
7 Killdeer (1)(2)(3)
60 Long-billed Dowitcher (2)(3)
40 Greater Yellowlegs (3)

1 Wilson’s Snipe (2)
4 Least Sandpiper (2)(3)

1 Pectoral Sandpiper (2)
7 Western Sandpiper (2)(3)
1 Green Heron (Heard only)  (3)
12 Great Egret (3)
5 Great Blue Heron (1)(2)(3)
4 Turkey Vulture (3)
3 Northern Harrier (2)(3)
1 Red-shouldered Hawk (3)
1 Red-tailed Hawk (3)
1 Hairy Woodpecker (3)
3 Northern Flicker (1)(3)

1 Peregrine Falcon (1)
3 American Kestrel (3)
2 Black Phoebe (2)(3)

2 Black-capped Chickadee (2)
1 Steller's Jay (3)
1 California Scrub-Jay (3)
40 Violet-green Swallow (2)(3)
5 Northern Rough-winged Swallow (3)
240 Barn Swallow (2)(3)
5 Marsh Wren (3)
3 Bewick's Wren (3)
61 European Starling (1)(3)
2 American Robin (3)
1 Purple Finch (3)
31 American Goldfinch (2)(3)
1 White-crowned Sparrow (3)

1 Golden-crowned Sparrow (1)
3 Savannah Sparrow (3)
3 Song Sparrow (3)
1 Spotted Towhee (3)
106 Red-winged Blackbird (1)(2)(3)
1 Brown-headed Cowbird (3)
9 Brewer's Blackbird (3)
1 Common Yellowthroat (3)

eBird checklist links: 

Nature Center – https://ebird.org/checklist/S195928074 

Eagle Marsh – https://ebird.org/checklist/S195935652 

Pintail Marsh – https://ebird.org/checklist/S195956513

 eBird Trip Report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/276483