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Date:  April 13, 2006

Location  Baskett Slough Birding

Where:  Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge

 

 Mary Narey led this combined Chemeketan and Salem Audubon Society birding trip to the Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge. We started our hike at 8:00 from the parking lot off of Coville Road.

Mary explains the plan for the day

Our first stop was the observation point on Mt Baldy. Although most of the water fowl have left for the season, we were able to spot a Great Egret on Cackler Marsh.

finding a Great Eget on Cackler Marsh

From the observation point we took the trail up the west side of Baskett Butte and through the thick oak woods. The highlight of the trip was a spotting of a Great Horned Owl up in some oak trees.

spotting a Great Horned Owl

We continued on, seeing a number of Blacktailed Deer, sighting sighting Rufous-sided Towhee, and being momentarily stumped by a Scrub Jay. Morgan Lake was our end destination, and there we identified a number of different ducks; Northern Shoveler, Scaup, Bufflehead, Ruddy, and American Widgeon. On the way back we spotted a Great Egret and three Great Blue Herons on Moffitt Marsh.

Morgan Lake
Blacktail Deer
Wild Strawberry