Ankeny Wildlife Refuge

by Allen Throop

Corvallis Gazette Times

March 10, 2004

Suddenly we saw a flash in the sky in front of us and then another to the left. We could not yet identify the birds causing the flashes but we knew that the afternoon was going to be memorable.

A friend and I had set out to visit Ankeny Wildlife Refuge south of Salem. We had no bird books, cameras or spotting scopes. The purpose was simply to enjoy a mild winter afternoon; the images of the day will remain for the rest of my life.

The memories I took away from the visit were not the number of species sighted but the patterns and colors that surrounded us while at the refuge. A good comparison could be made to London’s Heathrow Airport. Change is constant at both places. At the airport, after an airplane arrives from India the concourse fills with brown-skinned people in colorful saris or wearing large white turbans. Next might come a group from central Africa or perhaps Thailand. Each group has distinctive skin color, hairstyles, and clothing. Only the advanced people-watcher notices the much more abundant, but more drab, pale-skinned European varieties and keeps a record of the businessman in a stylish double-breasted suit, the orange back-packed student or the female Canadian with two juveniles clutched to her side.

From the viewing area at Ankeny, as we looked out over a lake studded with islands and crowded with winter guests, the variety in size, color and shape far surpassed the offerings of Heathrow.

Canada geese, in various sizes, dominated the foreground. The distinctive colors of the many duck species were hard to distinguish. The winter sun, low in the western sky, muted the colors but emphasized bold patterns. On the far side of the pond, a raft of swans resembling white teapots with graceful handles floated peacefully. Looking like professional basketball players on a grade-school playground, long legged egrets and herons stood out prominently with their white and blue uniforms.

As in Heathrow, we could see some groups waiting for departure while others visited various restaurants. Instead of sitting on benches while waiting, the ducks stood on one foot and tucked their heads under their wings.

For their meal, the geese chose to graze on the grassy banks of the pond. Puddle ducks headed for shallow water, put their heads down, stuck their tail feathers into the air and started to feed. The diving ducks preferred deeper water where they swam underwater for their meals.

The variation in landscape and water depths is not accidental. Just as the runways and terminals at a Heathrow have been constructed to provide suitable take off and landing habitat for aircraft, the pond and islands of Ankeny were carefully designed and built. Twenty years ago, the site of the pond and islands was a grass-seed field owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The land was purchased by the agency to provide winter habitat for dusky Canada geese, not to grow grass seed.

The low ridge that now separates Buena Vista Road from the pond is a dam that holds back the water. The same types of construction equipment that leveled the ground at Heathrow pushed up islands at Ankeny to allow safe resting areas for birds and created deeper portions of the lake for the diving ducks.

The chaotic activity of birds coming and going from the ponds at Ankeny would quickly drive an air traffic controller to change professions. Flights took off and landed in all direction. Instead of 100 passengers sitting in neat rows traveling together in an aluminum cigar, 500 individuals took flight at the same time. Birds of some species rose gracefully from the water; others seemed to run across the surface before retracting their landing gear upon takeoff.

Flocks of geese from the south; ten ducks coming from the east; a cormorant from the northwest; a handful of gulls flying randomly. Birds on final approach to land had to be wary for the sudden appearance of a duck or cormorant popping up to the surface after a dive. And always, the flashes of light coming from the flocks of the unknown birds circling in the sky.

With the sun low in the sky, we had an unrestricted view of the performance over our heads. Thousands of small birds were circling over the pond in flocks of ever changing size and shape. At times, their dark backs were almost invisible against the gray clouds to the east. Suddenly, in response to an unknown command, a part of the flock banked in a new direction. As they did so, hundreds of white undersides appeared in stark contrast to the dark sky.

Frequently, part of the flock landed on the islands. Roughly robin-size with a slender build and long legs, they were typical shore birds adapted for a life of foraging in shallow water, although we could not identify which species.

As at Heathrow, the waterfowl on the pond have developed a security system. Occasionally, an unknown bird or birds gave out an alarm and a huge flock of geese took to the air amidst great honking and cackling. A search of the sky revealed the terrorist - a bald eagle circling lazily overhead looking for an injured bird or other easy meal.

We stood for a long time watching the display of birds as other people came and went. Two women told us that the shore birds flashing through the sky were dunlins. My partner, a longtime waterfowl hunter, pointed out to them numerous species of ducks and varieties of Canada geese.

Late in the afternoon, the dunlins completed another great aerial display and headed north below the tree tops to an adjacent pond. As the massive flock headed for the trees, they strung themselves out and went through the trees in a long row two or three birds at a time.

As we turned to go, I took a map of the refuge showing the location of other ponds, trails and viewing blinds. Surely I would return with bird book and camera for a more detailed exploration of the area. But for this visit, I took away memories of the patterns of the water, the land, the sky and, of course, the birds.

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To reach Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge turn north on Independence Highway from Highway 20 between Albany and Corvallis. When entering Independence, turn right and cross the bridge over the Willamette River towards Salem. At the end of the bridge, turn right onto Riverside Drive S. Riverside Drive ends in about seven miles at a T intersection. Turn left on to Buena Vista Road; the information kiosk is on the right in one quarter of a mile.

The Buena Vista Ferry is a pleasant and a shorter alternative but it is closed in the winter.

A list of birds identified at Ankeny can be found at:

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/othrdata/chekbird/r1/westoreg.htm

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all photographs by Chuck Daellenbach