SAS Minto-Brown Island Park Bird Walk Report

[ung...@gmail.com]

SAS Minto-Brown Island Park Bird Walk Report

October 3, 2023 

This morning, Tim and I led the Salem Audubon Minto-Brown Island Park bird walk. We were joined by 12 other birders. It was a nice morning with overcast skies and temperatures ranging from 57 to 61 degrees. The wind was calm to 10 m.p.h. (weather records from Salem NWS). We walked a total of 3.5 miles along the Orange Turtle Trail all the way out to Eola Bend County Park. We observed (saw or heard) 38 species. We had 31 species in Minto-Brown and 18 species in Eola Bend.                                                              

The highlights were as follows:

·         The birds of the day were the four Townsend’s Warblers we saw in the valley pines in Eola Bend County Park. Another nice find was a Green Heron along the Willamette River which we do not experience very often here.

·         We observed four raptor species including American Kestrel, Cooper’s Hawk, Turkey Vulture, and Red-tailed Hawk.

·         We observed three of the five expected woodpecker species including Northern Flicker, as well as Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers.

·         A couple of unusual sightings for the park were a pair of Great Egrets flying over and two Common Ravens.

·         Along the river we saw Mallard, Song Sparrow, a few Barn Swallows, Canada Goose, Cackling Goose, Belted Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, and the Green Heron.

·         The California Quail moved from their usual spot and 20 quail were sighted in the blackberry rambles northwest of parking lot #3.

·         The most common species seen during the bird walk was the Cedar Waxwing. We observed 63 waxwings during the walk.

·         Other nice observations included several Brown Creepers including one that just stayed motionless and blended in very well with the tree bark. Also there seemed to be more Black-capped Chickadees (13) and House Finches (11) than usual. 

The upcoming events include: 

Illahe Hills CC Bird Walk, Monday, October 9, 2023 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. 

Ankeny NWR Field Trip, Sunday, October 15, 2023 at 9:00 AM. Meet at Ankeny Hill Nature Center (AHNC) Parking Lot at 9:00 AM. 

Please join us if you can. 

Mike Unger

Keizer, OR 

Minto-Brown Island Park/Eola Bend Checklist Summary for October 3, 2023

Identified Species: 

Checklists included in this summary:
(1): Minto-Brown Island Park at 9:02 AM
(2): Eola Bend County Park at 10:17 AM

8 Cackling Goose (1)
7 Canada Goose (1)
11 Mallard (1)
20 California Quail (1)
3 Anna's Hummingbird (1)
1 Killdeer (1)
1 Great Blue Heron (1)
1 Green Heron (1)

2 Great Egret (2)

5 Turkey Vulture (1) (2)

1 Red-tailed Hawk (2)
1 Cooper's Hawk (1)
2 Belted Kingfisher (1) (2)
2 Downy Woodpecker (1) (2)
1 Hairy Woodpecker (1)
1 Northern Flicker (1)
1 American Kestrel (1)
2 Steller's Jay (1)
7 California Scrub-Jay (1) (2)
3 American Crow (1)
2 Common Raven (1)
13 Black-capped Chickadee (1) (2)
3 Barn Swallow (1)

2 Golden-crowned Kinglet (2)

6 Brown Creeper (2)
3 Bewick's Wren (1) (2)
7 European Starling (1) (2)
14 American Robin (1)
63 Cedar Waxwing (1) (2)
11 House Finch (1)
3 Fox Sparrow (1) (2)
9 White-crowned Sparrow (1)
11 Golden-crowned Sparrow (1) (2)
1 Savannah Sparrow (1)
16 Song Sparrow (1) (2)

1 Spotted Towhee (2)

1 Yellow-rumped Warbler (2)

4 Townsend's Warbler (2)

View the checklists online at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S151355789 and https://ebird.org/checklist/S151353419