Towheeblog

Plenty of birds, little water. Three dozen White Pelicans loafing at Eagle marsh. I can’t believe the water there is deep enough for them to float or swim. Maybe one of the pools to the east of there is deep enough? At Pintail Marsh the dowitchers were wading about, up to their knees, at least thirty feet from shore–that’s shallow.

Eye-catcher: an all white nutria* on island at Eagle Marsh.

Here’s Ryckman’s fine pelican shot from earlier this week–same place we saw them today:

Ankeny NWR, Marion, Oregon, US
Sep 16, 2021
21 species

Canada Goose  X
Mallard  X
Green-winged Teal  X
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Least Sandpiper  1
Western Sandpiper  1
Long-billed Dowitcher  30
Greater Yellowlegs  15
American White Pelican  36
Great Blue Heron  6
Great Egret  14
Turkey Vulture  1
Northern Harrier  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Northern Flicker  1
American Kestrel  2
American Crow  1
Barn Swallow  50
European Starling  X
American Robin  1
Brewer’s Blackbird  1

*Nutria were released here when the fur farming biz went south and they are now prolific and invasive rodents in many western Oregon marshes. A large male adult can weigh 35 pounds or more. They will reproduce up to three times per year, half dozen or more young each round. Likely their only serious predator would be river otters who could catch the young. They are natve to South America. Click here for more.