This morning I began with a quick stop at Oxbow Road in the Hoover Nature
Preserve to look for the Tundra Swans reported earlier. No luck with the swans
but I did find some activity worth noting. In the coves as you head back to
the rear parking area I observed 10 Pied-billed Grebes, 4 Horned Grebes, 3
Ruddy Ducks, 2 Hooded Mergansers, and several Great Blue Herons. I then walked
the trail to the north side of Oxbow Island to the overlook. The best find here
was 2 Bald Eagles sitting in a cottonwood tree on the east side of the
island. In addition there were many Yellow-rumped Warblers, as well as Brown
Creepers, White-throated Sparrows, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets and 2
Winter Wrens. From the overlook at the end I observed rafts of Ring-necked
Ducks, Lesser Scaup and Hooded Mergansers, plus many Bonaparte's Gulls.
I next visited the pine grove behind the Headquarters Building at Alum Creek
(this is not the same as the visitors center). I looped the trail through
the pines hoping for a Saw-whet Owl since they have been banding several near
Chillicothe but no luck with the Saw-whets. Instead I located 3 Barred Owls.
Other species present in the pines and along the edge of the pond included 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, 7 Brown Creepers, 20 Golden-crowned Kinglets, 8
Ruby-crowned Kinglets, many Yellow-rumped Warblers and White-throated Sparrows,
3 White-crowned Sparrows, and 4 Winter Wrens.
It was a morning of quiet solitude that allowed me to meander and savor the
birds peacefully.
Charlie Bombaci
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