It's Spring! (sort of)

It is definately starting to feel like spring outside.  I had my first grackle for Hancock County of the year leaving a "calling card" on my car this morning.  Over at Camp Berry, where I stopped by to talk to the camp manager, I heard several Red-winged Blackbirds fly overhead.
At the Wastewater Treament plant just beside I-75 in Findlay sported Several Redheads and a Lesser Scaup.
The Findlay Reservoirs are still iced-over, but will be opening soon.  The shoreline is starting to show water.  Of course this didn't stop the ice fishermen from being out there.  At least three were on #2 at noon on Saturday.  I rather enjoy fishing but I'm sorry, I don't get it.  You couldn't pay me enough to walk out on solidified water, especially when it's melting!

Long-eared Owl

On Monday evening around 7:30 (Feb 08) I was called out to the Brugeman Lodge at Riverbend because of non-functioning outdoor lights.  As I typically do when I am called out on park duty after dark, I decided to try to call a few owls in.  I gave what arguably could have been the worst Screech-Owl call in human history, and suprisingly, a Long-eared Owl responded.  I traded a couple calls with the bird (I'm guessing male), before some fairly loud people heading to their cars interrupted us.
I have no idea why the owl reponded; I can't stress how bad my first call was.  Perhaps the bird wanted to show the interloper how a real owl calls.  I'm not complaining.
Weather has interrupted any chance at checking on this bird Tuesday evening.  If you'd like to try to find it, Riverbend Recreation Area is located immediately NNE of the Findlay Reservoirs, perhaps 2 miles east of Findlay.  This owl was calling from a pine grove located along side the county road, in between the Lodge and the reservoirs.

Springville Marsh Spring 2010 schedule

As per several requests, here is Tom Bartlett's schedule for banding birds at Springville Marsh in Seneca County this spring:
March 13 Sat
March 20 Sat
March 27 Sat
April 3  Sat
April 11  Sun
April 17  Sat
April 24  Sat
May 1  Sat
May 9  Sun
May 16 Sun
May 22 Sat
May 23 Sun
May 29 Sat
All time are subject to rain-out.  Call Tom Bartlett (419) 447-0005 if in doubt.
Nets are normally up well before sunrise and the first round to extract birds is usually at sunrise.  The best rounds are normally the first two or three.  Banding is almost always done by noon.
He sent me a .doc file containing this info, lus a few other dates/locations.  If you'd like to have the file, feel free to email me (hancockbirding@gmail.com) and I'll send it off as soon as possible.

Lawrence Woods, Hardin County

    Friday (Jan 29) found me with a very rare day off, so I went down to Lawrence Woods Nature Preserve in southern Hardin County.
    While it was slightly chilly, the themometer I brought along read -2F at 9 AM, it was still a worthwhile day.
    Woodpeckers were out in force; I saw 5 of our 6 woodpecker species.  Downies, Hairy, sever Flickers, many Red-bellieds, two Pileateds, and one Sapsucker near the bird blind.
    A Barred Owl was also flushed out by several aggitated Blue Jays.
    The highlight was easily a Northern Shrike, that I saw in a tree line on the south border of the preserve (CH200).  The tree line was perhaps 1/4m east of an old barn found on the preserve property.
    If you have never been, I'd recommend paying a visit to Lawrence Woods.  It's roughly 4 miles south of Kenton.  Take 292 south for Kenton and then take a right on CH190 (there's a sign), the entrance is a little over a mile down the road on the left.  Watch out for horse-and-buggie teams.
    On the way back to Findlay, I took a detour to see what was flying around the Wetlands south of Forest, Ohio.  4 Harriers were seen (1adult male, 2 immatures, and 1 I didn't get a great look at).  Also present were a Kestrel and a Red-tail that was being harrased by the adult male Harrier.

Chukar

I spotted a pair of Chukars today (Jan 16) in northern Cass Township, in extreme north-central Hancock County, barely a mile south of Belleville.

Obviously birds released for hunting purposes, apparently at least two survived the hunt.

They were on TR 114, 1/4 mile west of TR 232.

TR114 is a pretty isolated county road with a nice-looking Wildlife Production Area found at the corner of 114 and 232. This location could be good for ticks, chats in summer, ticks, and perhaps a few migrants in spring, as well as ticks.

Note: The picture is a bit blurry because I had it set to manual focus and completely forgot to focus the thing. Ah well, live and learn.

Directions (from Van Buren OH):

Head east on US 613.

About 1 to 1.5 miles past the Allen Twp Sports Complex, there'll be a sea-green house on the left.

Take a left on the county road immediately past this house (this is TR232).

Take the next left (> 0.5miles down) (TR114)

The birds were 0.25 miles down the road on the left side, just past the first woodlot.

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