January 2, 2006

It occurs to me that when I reported on the northern shrike on Saturday I
failed to report on trumpeter swans. This probably has more to do with a
personal attitude that anything else, and I realize that these birds may
be of considerable interest to certain subscribers to this list.

So, (to review my earlier post) I hung out along Zion Ridge Rd. near the
intersection with SR 146 from about 3:15 PM until 4:30 or so on Saturday
(12/30). This is across Zion Ridge Rd. from The Wilds property. The last
ten minutes of this vigil was rewarded with great views of the northern
shrike. Incidentally, Glen Crippen sent me a digiscoped photo of the
shrike he saw 12/9 along Prouty Rd. (approx. 7 miles distant from Zion
Ridge and 146) and it looks like a different bird than the one I saw
Saturday.

Anyway, after satisfying myself with good looks at a lifer I decided to
make another circuit of the vicinity to try to pad my "Moderate Year"
list with short-eared owl, which had somehow escaped the list to that
point. I found half a dozen short-eared owls before heading for home. As
I travelled south on Zion Ridge and approached SR 284 I saw three big
white birds on the last pond on the left.

They were trumpeter swans: huge, all-black bills, two of them collared
with those ugly markers that I'm sure are useful to those studying the
birdsand their movements. But folks, these collars don't do much for the
birds aesthetically. These are the first trumpeter swans I have seen in
the wild (at least since 1994 when I started listing) but I won't count
them. The largest sported a green collar with (I believe) 8M3 emblazoned
on it in white. It could have been QM3 or something else that looks
similar. Another had a yellow collar whose black letters I could not
resolve given the waning light and my admittedly less-than-optimal scope.
One was un-collared. It just doesn't seem like they belong. They are
magnificent birds, no doubt about it; but they seem little better than
escapees at this point. I had passed that pond twice earlier in the
afternoon and the bords weren't there. So they must have flown in between
about 3:00 and 4:45 when I found them.

Around the farm, little out of the ordinary is happening bird-wise. But I
am happy to report a flock of eight bluebirds flitting about yesterday,
along with my one over-wintering mockingbird, and persistently singing
Carolina wrens, lots of white-breasted nuthatches: seasonal delights all.

Bob Evans
Geologist, etc.
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County
DeLorme 70 A1

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]