THIS SATURDAY WAS ALSO A SUN DAY

Posted by: atowhee | February 12, 2022

THIS SATURDAY WAS ALSO A SUN DAY

This morning I got to lead a birding trip for Salem Audubon–at Ankeny NWR. Not only was this the warmest day of the year so far…the sky was cloudless, wind minimal, sun benificent. The birds were pleased. Song Sparrows sang. As did red-wings. At the Eagle Marsh parking lot we saw phoebe phisticuphs. A pair presumed they could nest there and objected to the presence of a third phoebe. We saw much to-ing and fro-ing but no actual beaky violence. A Great Blue Heron was mouthing a two-foot long garter snake. Before our 9AM start time some of us saw a peregrine fly over Eagle Marsh. Several young eagles perched, a mated pair of white-headed were at the nest northeast of Pintail Marsh parking lot. Snow Goose fly-over. Tundra Swans at Pintail Marsh. Pipits racing about a plowed field. Canvasback at Pintail Marsh. No Pied-billed Grebes, nor nutria in sight. Forty species in less than 3 hours. Sunny bright the whole way.

Scouting before the field trip began I spotted this one Snow Goose amongst the cacklers. Later the snowy was gone but the cackler flock grew as we watched–hundreds more landed. In thsi same field we also found our pipits, Killdeer, and Least Sadnpipers.

Song Sparrow on left, singing; one of the Black Phoebes on the right.

Pair of yiung eagles in treetops overlooking and looking over a ducky marsh along Buena Vista Road; trio of young eagles in tree east of refuge next to private sheep pasture, waiting to see if lamb mutton is on the day’s menu.

Snowe and Cackling Geese in pasture east of Nature Center, 830AM.

Wigeon, a long line of cacklers in far background, a few Green-winged Teal in the puddle as wigeom retreat.

Most spring-like: two tree swallows flying rapidly northwest over Buena Vista Road! Then later at home I saw my first honeybee of the year. My wife spotted him, nectar gathering in the blooming heather.

Ankeny NWR, Marion, Oregon, US
Feb 12, 2022
40 species

Snow Goose 140 field west of Nature Center, mostly…about twenty did a fly over near Eagle Marsh
Cackling Goose 4000
Canada Goose 80
Tundra Swan 25
Northern Shoveler X
Eurasian Wigeon 1–west of Buena Vista Road, north of Eagle Marsh parking lot
American Wigeon X
Mallard X
Northern Pintail X
Green-winged Teal X
Canvasback 1 Pintail Marsh
Ring-necked Duck X
Lesser Scaup 2
Bufflehead X
Ruddy Duck 75
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2
American Coot X
Killdeer X
Least Sandpiper 30
Wilson’s Snipe 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 6
Northern Harrier 2
Bald Eagle 9
Red-tailed Hawk 6
Northern Flicker 1
American Kestrel 7
Peregrine Falcon 1
Black Phoebe 3 Eagle Marsh parking lot
California Scrub-Jay 8
American Crow 1
Tree Swallow 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Bewick’s Wren 1
American Pipit 25 in field north of Wintel Road, west of railroad crossing
Golden-crowned Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Lincoln’s Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird X
Brewer’s Blackbird X

Posted in birding, birds, ducks & geese, eagles, Marion County, migratory birds, natural history, oregon, raptor, shorebirds, sparrows, swallow, tyrant flycatcher, Willamette Valley, winter birds | Tags: American Pipits, American Wigeon, Ankeny NWR, Bald Eagle, Black Phoebe, Cackling Geese, Canvasback, garter snake, Peregrine, Snow Geese, Song Sparrow, Tree Swallows, Tundra Swan

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