December 19 Hancock County Christmas count

This should be the copmplete list of the Hancock County Christmas count, held last Saturday the 19th. I believe it totals 64 species, 1 "spuh", and 6 count week species. 38 people participated; about equall numbers of field people and "feeder watchers"
Contact me if you have any questions

Canada Geese 4775
Am Black Duck 4
Mallard 943
Bufflehead 1
Common Goldeneye 1 (count week)
Red-breasted Merganser 4 (count week)
Ruddy Duck 1
Wild Turkey 74
Common Loon 1
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 1 (count week)
Great Blue Heron 4
Turkey Vulture 2
Bald Eagle 3
Harrier 2
Cooper's Hawk 9
Red-tailed Hawk 17
American Kestrel 14
American Coot 3
Sandhill Crane 2
Ring-billed Gull 124
Herring Gull 86
Great Black-backed Gull 12 Lake LeCompte (sp?) near Fostoria. Highest # ever for Hancock.
Rock Pigeon 297
Mourning Dove 284
Eastern Screech-Owl 3
Great Horned Owl 2
Barred Owl 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-headed Woodpecker 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 36
Downy Woodpecker 80
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 11
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 89
American Crow 30
Horned Lark 830
Black-capped Chickadee 53
Carolina Chickadee 3
Chickadee sp. 5
Tufted Titmouse 46
Red-breasted Nuthatch 63
Brown Creeper 8
Carolina Wren 8
Golden-crowned Kinglet 28
Eastern Bluebird 3 (Van Buren)
American Robin 10
Starling 2407
Cedar Waxwing 23
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 (count week)
Am. Tree Sparrow 160
Chipping Sparrow (count week)
Field Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 17
White-crowned Sparrow 4
Golden-crowned Sparrow 1 (yes.......)
Dark-eyed Junco 175
Lapland Longspur 2 (count week, where the heck are they?)
Snow Bunting 9 (hundreds were found in county during the week)
Northern Cardinal 165
Common Grackle 17
Brown-headed Cowbird 26
Purple Finch 10
House Finch 139
Common Redpoll 1 (Camp Berry)
Pine Siskin 2
American Goldfich 151
House Sparrow 671

Thanks to Betty Hardesty to providing these numbers.

Findlay Reservoirs side note

As of Monday, the Findlay Reservoirs were largely ice-covered. #2, the large one, was >98% covered with snow on top, and #1, the small one, was 75-80% iced with one sizeable hole remaining.
This is weeks earlier than our ten year average and also flip-flopped from normal. Typically, #1 freezes first.

Waterfowl

That front from a few days ago really seemed to get the ducks and geese moving. On Sunday, I saw 2 Cackling Geese, Am. Wigeon, Shoveler, Am Black Duck, Ruddy Duck, Mallard and Redhead at Findlay Reservoir #1 (the small reservoir).
A bit later I stopped by Lake Cascades and saw an immature Greater White-fronted Goose. This is about the sixth or seventh record of this bird in Hancock County, about half of which are from Lake Cascades.
Lake Cascades is the large quarry just west of the hospital in Findlay and just east of SR15.

Sandhill Cranes

Late Friday morning, I saw about 165 Sandhill Cranes from the parking lot of Oakwoods NP, SW of Findlay. They were heading in a SSE direction. In the past, I've seen waterfowl follow this path. In the past, birds along this route tend to show up later around Killdeer Plains. Now, I'm not promissing that's where the cranes were heading, but Killdeer Plains is always good this time of year anyhow.
As a follow-up, Allen Chartier posted on the Ohio Birds ListServ that he saw 45 Sandhills near Carey, probably near the Hancock/ Wyandot County line. I also heard from om Bartlett that there had been at least three flocks of cranes (50, 100, 150 respectively) around Tiffin on Friday. Looks like Friday was the big push for them.

A good Saturday morning.

We finally have winter. Dodging snowflakes and pushed deer, I went east to a hike at Garlo Heritage Nature Preserve in Seneca County. It is south of Tiffin at the intersection of CR 6 and 19. While the hike was fairly quiet birding-wise, it was still a nice park to visit. Afterwards, I stopped at Forrest Nature Preserve, on CR 6 and drove by Howard Collier Nature Preserve, east of McCutchenville. On the way home, I took a look at Lake Cascades in Findlay. All told, a decent morning.
Some of the birds seen.
Cackling Goose 2 at Lake Cascades. They cooperated and were near the Interior and Lesser Canadas. It's a much easier i.d. when they're all together. :)
Canada Goose -150 at Cascades. Only noteable because most were Interiors, plus three Lessers.
One Canada X Domestic hybrid. It's a monster of a goose. Larger than an average Giant Canada.
Mallards and Black Ducks at Cascades.
Lesser Scaup- 200++ at the Findlay Reservoir #2
Pheasant- female at Collier
Bald Eagle -adult at Garlo
Red-shouldered- Collier
Rough-legged Hawk- patrolling a corn-stubble field on CR6, about 4 miles east of the Hancock/ Seneca County line.
Tons of Crows everywhere-Maybe they're being pushed out of the woods along with the deer?
Everywhere: White-throated Sparrows, Juncos, Tree Sparrows