Teal Marsh – wanderingyuncks

Wildlife Week – Day 2: Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge 04/28/2025

For day 2 of my “Wildlife Week” vacation I returned to Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge. This marked my fourth visit to this refuge which is just under 30 minutes from Salem (2014) (2021) (2022). For this visit I parked at the Eagle Marsh Trailhead and hiked a total of 10.5-miles visiting Eagle, Teal, Willow, Mallard, Egret, Pintail and Killdeer Marshes as well as Mohoff, Wood Duck, Dunlin and South Ponds.
The route included two short road walks along Buena Vista and Wintel Roads.

My “sunrise” start was once again under a canopy of clouds making pictures of the numerous ducks and other birds difficult during the lollipop loop past Eagle Marsh and around Teal and Willow Marshes.

Ring-necked ducks

Much of the area, and most trails, are closed between October 1st and April 1st each year.

Ring-necked ducks and a very out of focus pied billed grebe.

Willow Marsh

Northern filckers

Geese

Teal Marsh

Pied billed grebe

Common yellowthroat

Pair of bald eagles in the snag.

One of the eagles.

I believe this is a greater yellowlegs.

Bufflehead

Green-winged teals

Killdeer

Leaving Eagle Marsh. Even over an hour after sunrise there wasn’t much light.

A 0.2-mile walk to the SW along Buena Vista Road brought me to the start of the dike trails at Mohoff Pond and Mallard Marsh. I took the dike between the two and followed it to a 4-way junction between Mohoff Pond, Mallard Marsh, Egret Marsh, and Pintail Marsh.

Robin

The mudflats at Mallard Marsh were busy.

Green-winged teals and several species of shore birds. I think the darker, larger birds are short billed dowitchers, the smallest are sandpipers and there is one with a black mark on its underside which may be a dunlin.

Better look at the short billed dowitchers.

A little better look at what I think might be dunlins.

I see you.

This American bittern saw me way before I saw it. It had flown up earlier and landed in the vegetation and even though I watched where it landed, I couldn’t make it out until it took flight again.

Savanah sparrow that appears as annoyed with the bugs as I was.

Not a great photo but there is a northern pintail lower right.

A sandpiper, my guess is a least sandpiper.

American wigeons. Another not great shot but they were all sticking close to the far shore of Mallard Marsh.

Mallards hanging out at Mallard Marsh.

Nearing the 4-way junction.

At the junction I went straight passing between Egret and Pintail Marshes. This was the first time I’d taken this route.

Northern shoveler

I made my way to the Pintail Marsh Trailhead and then road walked another 0.3-miles east along Wintel Road to a small pullout along the Prairie Extension Trail.
Pintail Marsh from the trailhead along Wintel Road.

Cinamon Teal

I veered right on the Prairie Extension’s grassy tract.

Camas

Hawk

Song sparrow

Spotted towhee

Common vetch

After two tenths of a mile on the Prairie Extension I noticed a hiker symbol marking the Woodland Loop Trail on the right.

While this trail has theoretically been there on my previous visits it hasn’t always been obvious or passable. Storm damage and Spring flooding had kept me off this trail until today. The third of a mile trail passes through a dense and damp woodland before returning to the grassy track near the end of the Rail Trail boardwalk.

Avens

Western meadowrue

Obstacle

Newer looking bridge.

Older bridge.

End of the Woodland Loop.

The boardwalk to the left.

I turned right and hiked around Dunlin and Killdeer Ponds then made my way back to the Rail Trail boardwalk. There was some commotion at the SW corner of Dunlin Pond caused by several bald eagles having a heated conversation.
The one trying to land was apparently not invited to the party.

There are 3 immature and 2 adult eagles in the trees. Then there was the juvenile that wasn’t welcome and possibly another juvenile that had been flying around. I was having a hard time keeping track of just how many there were.

After tearing my focus away from the eagle meeting, I watched a northern harrier hunt in the field opposite of Dunlin Pond.
Grey ghost

Dunlin Pond

These may be the two juveniles that were not allowed at the meeting.

A nearly dry South Pond on the right after having looped around Killdeer Marsh.

The start of the boardwalk.

I didn’t see much of anything along the boardwalk (which is typical) until near the end when things picked up near Wood Duck Pond.
Dove

Song sparrow

Wood ducks

Mallard

Swallow

Cinnamon teal

I turned right at the end of the boardwalk and took the Prairie Extension back to Witnel Road and then hiked back to the Pintail Marsh Trailhead.

Woodpecker

Pintail Marsh (all the black specs are insects)

I went left along the marsh and stayed left at junctions to pass Mohoff Pond and make my way back to Buena Vista Road.

Female red-winged blackbird

Male red-winged blackbird

American coot

The highly invasive American bullfrog.

A good look at the size difference between a Canada goose (left) and cackling geese.

Sunning snake

Canada goose

I walked the road back to Eagle Marsh where a great blue heron was hanging out next to the overlook.

The heron’s head between the interpretive signs.

Ankeny has never disappointed. I always see a lot of wildlife, but getting good pictures without a professional camera and telephoto lens is difficult given the size of the ponds and how easy it is for the birds to put a good deal of distance between people and themselves. In addition to the wildlife included in the post I also saw an osprey, a coyote (just before pulling into the parking area), a scrub jay, and numerous small birds that would not cooperate for photos. All in all, it was a great addition to Wildlife Week. Happy Trails!

Flicker Album: Ankeny 2025

Ankeny Wildlife Refuge – 04/13/2021

I found myself with some time off that Heather does not and after spending the first day getting the car serviced and receiving my first dose of COVID vaccine (YAY) I spent the next morning exploring the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge. We had visited once before in 2014 for a short hike described by Sullivan in his “100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades” guidebook (post). This time I hoped to explore more of the refuge by hiking some of the dike trails that are open from April 1st to September 30th. I started my morning at the Eagle Marsh parking area on Buena Vista Road.

There is a nice kiosk there overlooking the marsh from which quite a few ducks and geese were visible.

Buffleheads

Canada goose and mallards

American coot

Ring-necked ducks (I’m not sure all the females are the same.)

Geese flying over Eagle Marsh as the Sun rises.

There was more vegetation at the southern end of the marsh where robins and blackbirds were singing.

At the end of Eagle Marsh the dike split and I had intended to stay straight (the Refuge trail map appeared to show a possible loop around Willow Marsh but other maps do not show a dike at the southern end) but a sign there announced that dike was closed due to active nesting so I turned left instead.
Willow Marsh

There were a lot of ducks in Willow Marsh but they were keeping a safe distance from me.
A bufflehead and mallards

Mallards and ring-necked ducks

I then turned right along a dike passing between Willow and Teal Marshes.
Teal Marsh to the left of the dike.

It was more of the same treatment from the ducks in Teal Marsh.

Mallards an northern shovelers

Buffleheads

While the ducks stayed away I had better luck with the smaller birds.
Spotted towhee

Red-winged blackbird

Female red-winged blackbird

Sparrow

Yellow-rumped warbler

At the end of Teal Marsh I turned around and headed back past the ducks.

Geese coming in for a landing on Teal Marsh

Northern flicker

Green-winged teal

Ring-necked ducks and a bufflehead pair

Scrub jay

Pie billed grebe at Eagle Marsh

The out-and-back was a nice, albeit windy, 3.2 mile walk with no elevation gain. From Eagle Marsh I turned left (SW) onto Buena Vista Road and drove a quarter mile to a small pullout at a green gate.

From here I planned on following another dike past Mohoff Pond and Pintail Marsh to Wintel Road and then follow that road briefly to the Rail Trail Loop Area which is where we had been on our first visit. A bald eagle flew over Mohoff Pond just as I set off.

Mohoff Pond was busy with a number of different ducks but primarily they seemed to be northern shovelers.

I didn’t see it when I took the picture but it appears there is an eagle on the ground in the distance here.

The activity wasn’t only at Mohoff Pond though as a handful of egrets were mostly out of view in a field on the other side of the railroad tracks.
One of the egrets taking off.

Brewer’s blackbird on a tree along the railroad tracks.

I stayed right at a junction with a dike running between Mohoff Pond and Pintail Marsh.
Pintail Marsh ahead on the left.

The dike between Mohoff Pond and Pintail Marsh.

Ducks at Pintail Marsh

There was a gravel parking area at the southern end of Pintail Marsh where I hopped onto Wintel Road and headed left following the narrow shoulder for .3 miles to another green gate on the right hand side of the road.
Pintail Marsh

Looking back at the gate and Wintel Road

I followed a grassy track which split 100 feet from the gate and turned right (left would have led me to the Rail Trail Parking area). The path led past a little standing water before leading onto a dike along Wood Duck Pond.

Yellow legs

I passed the Rail Trail Boardwalk and stayed on the dike now retracing our steps from our first visit.

The dike turned south wrapping around Dunlin Pond.
The boardwalk across Dunlin Pond from the dike.

Ring-necked ducks

Ring-necked ducks taking off.

Sparrow

Common yellowthroat

Hawk and a sparrow

At the far end of Dunlin Pond the dike split again at Killdeer Marsh. Here I turned right and looped around Killdeer Marsh.
Killdeer Marsh

Another yellow legs?

Mustard along Killdeer Marsh

A killdeer amid ducks at Killdeer Marsh

The dike didn’t quite go all the way around the marsh but it was easy walking along the edge of a field to get back to the dike on the north side of the marsh. The only issue was a 5 foot wide wet area between the field and dike where try as I might my shoes wound up wet. Once I was back on the dike I had the choice to go left back along Killdeer Marsh or a different dike veering off to the right along South Pond. I chose right and followed this dike around the end of South Pond.

South Pond

Cinnamon Teal in South Pond

The dike led me to one of two actual trails in the Refuge, the Rail Trail.

Damaged trees from the ice storm earlier this year.

Turkey vulture

Candyflower

I turned right at the boardwalk and followed it over the water to the dike on the far side.

American coots

I think this is a ring-necked duck and a lesser scaup.

At the dike I turned right and retraced my steps back to Witnel Road and headed back toward Pintail Marsh. Instead of going to the gravel parking lot that I had been at earlier I left the road at the Pintail/Egret Marsh Boardwalk Trailhead.

I followed this short boardwalk along and over Bashaw Creek to a bird blind.

Again on the trail map it appeared that the boardwalk connect to a dike at Egret Marsh but it instead it dead ended at the blind.
The dike from the blind.

I turned around and headed back to Witnel Road a little dissapointed but then I spotted a little green frog on a log and all was good.

When I got back to the lot a Pintail Marsh I turned right thinking I would follow the dike on the other side Pintail Marsh and Mohoff Pond.

I stayed right when I passed another dike that allowed for a loop around Frog Marsh and stopped at a photo blind (reservable from 10/1-3/31).

At the junction with the other end of the Frog Marsh Loop I ran into another obstacle, more active nesting had closed the dike along Pintail Marsh so I did the loop around Frog Marsh and back to the gravel lot I went.

I retraced my steps on the dike along the west side of Pintail Marsh before turning right on the dike between the marsh and Mohoff Pond.
Killdeer on the dike.

A whole lot of geese in the air ahead.

I turned left at a four way junction where the closed dike joined from between Pintail and Egret Marshes.

I was now on a dike between Mohoff Pond (left) and Mallard Marsh (right).

Ducks and geese were everywhere as I trudged directly into the wind along the dike.
Green-winged teals

Northern shovelers

Canada geese

Another green-winged teal

Various ducks

Northern pintails

Crow

A green-winged teal and a yellow legs

My second stop wound up coming to 7.5 miles making for a 10.7 mile day. I only passed two people all day and saw a lot of different birds which made for a great hike. If I were a more patient person I would have sat at a blind or two and waited for some closer encounters but I prefer to keep moving so I have to settle for the long distance shots more often than not. Either way Ankeny is a great place to visit. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Ankeny Wildlife Refuge