SAS Minto-Brown island Park Bird Walk Report

[ung...@gmail.com]

SAS Minto-Brown Island Park Bird Walk Report

July 4, 2024 

This morning, Tim, Paul, and I led the Salem Audubon Minto-Brown Island Park bird walk. We were joined by 18 birders for our 4th of July adventure. Our main goal was to find the Red-eyed Vireo that has been spotted in the northwest portion of the park recently. It was a nice morning with clear blue skies. The temperature ranged from 64 to 79 degrees with winds from 6 to 14 m.p.h.  It was a long walk since we started from parking lot #1 as we walked 4.92 miles. The walk took about 3.5 hours.  We observed (saw or heard) 47 species.                                                              

The highlights were as follows:

·         The nicest observation was hearing the Red-eyed Vireo which was a first for many birders.  Unfortunately, we never saw it since it stayed up high in the cottonwoods.  The vireo was in the same northwest location in the park as previous seen the last couple of weeks.

·         The bird of the day was the vociferous Swainson’s Thrush with a total of 25. These thrushes were very vocal throughout the entire walk.

·         The second most numerous species was the Wood Duck. We observed 21 Wood Ducks during the walk including many young ones.  The one or two males were molting so they did not look particularly good.  Most of the Wood Ducks were on the pond just across the street from parking lot #1.

·         It was an exceptionally good raptor day with two Barred Owls being seen. We also saw Red-tailed Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, and an Osprey.  We did not see any American Kestrels.

·         We observed four warbler species during the walk including Black-throated Gray, Yellow, and Orange-crowned Warblers as well as the Common Yellowthroat.  The warblers were very skulky today, so I do not recall seeing any of them.  We just heard them.

·         Other nice sightings were Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Belted Kingfisher, and lots of Black-capped Chickadees.

·         The main misses were Anna’s Hummingbird, California Scrub-Jay, American Kestrel, and Wilson’s Warbler. 

The upcoming events include:

 

Ankeny NWR Field Trip, Saturday, July 13, 2024 at 7:30 AM. Meet at the Ankeny Hill Nature Center parking lot off Ankeny Hill Road.

 

Illahe Hills CC – Monday, July 15, 2024 at 8:00 AM.  Please contact the leader at paule...@gmail.com to confirm your registration for this trip. Registered participants should meet at the Country Club entrance at 8:00 AM. Please Park in the main parking area, not in front of the clubhouse!

 

Common Nighthawks at Minto-Brown, Monday, July 22, 2024 at 7:30 PM.  Meet in parking lot #3 at the end of Minto Island Road SE. 

Please join us if you can.

 

Mike Unger

Keizer, OR 

Minto-Brown Island Park Checklist Summary for July 4, 2024

Identified Species: 47

21 Wood Duck
5 Mallard
1 Mourning Dove
2 Vaux's Swift
1 Killdeer
1 Great Blue Heron
12 Turkey Vulture
2 Osprey
1 Northern Harrier
1 Bald Eagle
1 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Barred Owl
1 Belted Kingfisher
1 Downy Woodpecker
5 Northern Flicker
9 Western Wood-Pewee
1 Western Flycatcher (Pacific-slope)
5 Warbling Vireo
1 Red-eyed Vireo
3 Steller's Jay
3 American Crow
16 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Chestnut-backed Chickadee
3 Tree Swallow
8 Violet-green Swallow
2 Barn Swallow
5 Bushtit
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch
2 Brown Creeper
4 Bewick's Wren
25 Swainson's Thrush
18 American Robin
10 Cedar Waxwing
5 Purple Finch
1 American Goldfinch
1 White-crowned Sparrow
17 Song Sparrow
10 Spotted Towhee
11 Red-winged Blackbird
3 Brown-headed Cowbird
1 Orange-crowned Warbler
2 Common Yellowthroat
8 Yellow Warbler
4 Black-throated Gray Warbler
3 Western Tanager
7 Black-headed Grosbeak

View this checklist online at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S185309929