Today Rick Oxley, Richard Oxley and I took advantage of the great weather
for December 30th and headed north to do some birding. Our initial objective
was to find some owls, but the overwhelming presence of “Hunter’s Orange” led
to a change of agenda. We did though have an enjoyable day both in our
company and the birds we located.
Our first stop was at Wyandot C-112 where there were numerous Horned Larks
and a few Lapland Longspurs and American Pipits. From there we went to C-29 to
see what was present at the flood plain. We weren’t disappointed as along
with the many Canada Geese and Mallards we found 9 Greater White-fronted Geese
and a few Northern Pintails. In the tree line at the edge of the road near
the farmhouse we found a Red-headed Woodpecker.
We then headed south to the Upper Sandusky Reservoir. As we entered the
reservoir we were greeted by a gorgeous Red-shouldered Hawk in the trees along
the fence. In the stand of dead trees in the water were 2 adult Bald Eagles. We
scanned the water looking for Cackling Geese but only located Canada Geese
and Mallards at first, and then we found a Hooded Merganser and a Bufflehead
near the middle of the reservoir.
We next headed south to Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area where we located a
nice mixture of species. Included were 2 Greater White-fronted Geese, hundreds
of Canada Geese, 9 Trumpeter Swans, 61 Tundra Swans, 13 Gadwall, 20+ American
Black Ducks, hundreds of Mallards, 18 Northern Shovelers, 23 Northern
Pintail, 1 Green-winged Teal, 8 Common Goldeneye, 10 Bald Eagles, 8 Northern
harriers, 1 Cooper’s Hawk, several Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrel, a Wild Turkey
that played chicken with Rick’s vehicle, and various usual common birds.
Our last stop was at Big Island Wildlife Area where we found a few Great
Blue Herons, the first for the day, 2 Trumpeter Swans, 6 Green-winged Teal, 7
more Bald Eagles (total for the day was 17), 9 Northern Harriers, a Ring-necked
Pheasant, Horned Larks, American Tree Sparrows, 2 Swamp Sparrows and several
other common species. Our total for the trip was 44 species and lots of good
company.
Charlie Bombaci
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