Greetings!
I was lucky enough to have a bit of time today to dart out-and-about between TA duties, classes, research, etc. to try and find #'s 96-100 and made a sweep of my target/staked-out species along with one added bonus.
Athens has at least two roosts of vultures in the area. One of these is at Strouds Run State Park and the other is right in the center of town. The group at Strouds Run State Park provided a group of 90+ Turkey Vultures (#96) this morning, but no Black Vultures as I had hoped. These birds roost at the west end of Dow Lake and roost in the surrounding tress almost always somewhere in view of the public beach area. Strouds Run also provided an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (#97) in this same general area.
After my 11:00-1:00 I headed to The Ridges (the old mental hospital...now owned by OU above OU, which has a large number of nature trails on the property. The old abandoned fields of the area produced my Eastern Towhee (#98) and a pure flock of 21 Field Sparrows (#99) which have been present in the same area since November.
Finally, on the way back to class, I tried for the Athens (city) flock of vultures. Fortunately, they decided to go back to their perches in the afternoon and I found approx. 40+ Turkey Vultures and 30+ Black Vultures (#100) on the hillside between Grosvenor Street and Forest Street. These birds normally roost in this area of Athens throughout the year and are fairly easy to find.
So...now I can relax a bit and see how far I can get for the month. I say relax a bit, because it usually takes me about 30-31 days to get to 100. This year we planned well, talked with lots of helpful folks and got really lucky!
If anyone is interested in any of the above species for you January, Ohio, year or whatever list, please feel free to drop me a note and I'll be happy to point you in the right direction.
Thanks again to everyone who provided tips, hints and helpful information. It was all most appreciated. I hope everyone is having fun with a new year of birding opportunities. Keep at it and have fun because there's still a whole bunch of days left in January...let alone the rest of the year! :)
Good birding,
Jason
Jason S. Larson
Graduate Student
Ohio University
Department of Environmental and Plant Biology
315 Porter Hall
Athens, Oh 45701
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740-593-1126
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