SAS Ankeny NWR Field Trip Report

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SAS ANKENY NWR FIELD TRIP SUMMARY 

For today's Salem Audubon birding field trip at Ankeny NWR, Tim and I were joined by seven (7) other birders.  We spent about two hours at the refuge. The weather was fairly good as we experienced no rain and only a little wind until late in the trip.  It was 48 degrees at the start but warmed up to 54 degrees at the end.  We made four stops around the refuge including Ankeny Hill Nature Center, Eagle Marsh, Pintail Marsh, and the Willow Tree Parking Lot.  The skies were mostly cloudy and late in the trip winds reached 16 m.p.h. so we ended the trip. We identified (saw or heard) 38 species. 

NOTE: The bird walk at Willow Lake WWTP is on Tuesday, November 26th.  In some emails and the Kestrel it was noted as Monday, but it is on Tuesday! 

Most notable sightings:

· The best sightings were at Eagle Marsh where we saw a pair of Canvasback and two Trumpeter Swans.  The Canvasback and swans were on the west side of the marsh with good views from the parking lot.  In the back of the marsh there were 19 Tundra Swans and lots of ducks.  We saw nine species of ducks including Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Mallard, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, and Lesser Scaup.  There also was a Black Phoebe, Western Meadowlark, and several raptors including two adult Bald Eagles.

·     The nature center had some activity with 12 species observed.  There were two Great Egret in a far field as well as a Great Blue Heron flying over the same field.  An American Kestrel was in a tree to the west of the center.  We also saw a Northern Harrier flying low over a field as well as a Red-tailed Hawk.

·  Pintail Marsh was pretty quiet compared to Eagle Marsh.  Most of the activity was on the far left or far right side of the marsh.  There was little activity in the middle. The most exciting observation here was clearly hearing a Red-shouldered Hawk nearby.  We also heard a Black Phoebe and saw about 100 Dunlin flying high over the marsh. There were seven species of ducks here in smaller numbers than Eagle Marsh.  We did see a new duck species with six (6) Ruddy Ducks that were hanging out together.

·  The Willow Tree parking lot was also slow with only six species.  We did see eight (8) Great Egret way back in the field.  There was a Western Meadowlark and three different raptor species seen here.

A complete list of today's eBird checklists and a Trip Report follows.  

Our next SAS bird walk will be at Willow Lake WWTP in Keizer on Tuesday, November 26th at 9:00 AM.  Meet in the parking lot.    

Minto-Brown Island Park bird walk on Wednesday, December 18th at 8:00 AM.  Meet at Parking Lot #3 at the end of Minto Island Road.  This is the main lead up to the Salem Area Christmas Bird Count.   

 Please join us if you can. 

Mike Unger

Keizer, OR 

Ankeny NWR eBird Checklists for November 20, 2024

Number of Species: 38 

eBird checklists: 

Ankeny Hill Nature Center: https://ebird.org/checklist/S203102254 

Eagle Marsh: https://ebird.org/checklist/S203110250 

Pintail Marsh: https://ebird.org/checklist/S203111259 

Willow Tree parking lot: https://ebird.org/checklist/S203112602

 

eBird Trip Report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/294197