The tenth annual Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary Big Sit, held this past Sunday at the observation deck, ended as a successful day of birding. The weather was nearly perfect, 65 degrees and no rain until the end of the event. Throughout the day we had 24 participants hailing from Mahoning, Stark, Ashtabula, Carroll, and Trumbull Counties, with some dedicated birders present for the entire thirteen hours. The die-hard contributors that stayed the duration until the rain came at about 6:30PM were, in order of their morning arrival; John Petruzzi, Shaun O'Neill, Jeff Harvey, Ben Morrison, myself, Shari Jackson, and my wife Denise. The average count circle total for the previous nine years was 69, also our 2017 total. In years past, 82 was the highest count, and 61 the lowest count. Four species that we recorded at The Sanctuary during the count, but outside the count circle were; Ruddy Duck, Black Crowned Night-Heron, Sora, and Palm Warbler. An amazing sight in late afternoon, was the sky blackening with Chimney Swifts. At the start of the day was Barred Owl and at the end of the day, the last bird was a Great Horned Owl. A big thanks goes out to all the other participants, and to the staff of Mill Creek Metroparks for providing the site, their support, the picnic table, and the port-a-john. The following is the list of the birds we recorded.


Bob Lane / Mahoning County resident

Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary (restricted access), Mahoning, Ohio, US
Oct 8, 2017 5:20AM - 6:30 PM
Comments: I was the list compiler while participating in The 2017 Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary Big Sit. Some of the 24 participants came and went, while others stayed for the entire bird count. This e-bird list is from the observation deck and other parts of The Sanctuary, and not just The Big Sit List, which was 69 species. There were no different bird species documented during the nocturnal hours versus the daylight hours.
73 species

Canada Goose  185
Wood Duck  20
Blue-winged Teal  14
Northern Shoveler  2
American Wigeon  4
Mallard  75
American Black Duck  3
Northern Pintail  2
Green-winged Teal  90
Ruddy Duck  1
Pied-billed Grebe  2
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Great Blue Heron  6
Great Egret  35
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  11
Cooper's Hawk  3
Bald Eagle  3
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  2
Sora  1
American Coot  5
Killdeer  4
Wilson's Snipe  2
Greater Yellowlegs  4
Ring-billed Gull  70
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  12
Mourning Dove  30
Great Horned Owl  1
Barred Owl  1
Chimney Swift  1085
Belted Kingfisher  2
Red-headed Woodpecker  6
Downy Woodpecker  2
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  4
American Kestrel  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1
Eastern Phoebe  4
Blue Jay  32
American Crow  12
Tree Swallow  1
Black-capped Chickadee  8
Tufted Titmouse  5
White-breasted Nuthatch  3
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  3
Eastern Bluebird  2
American Robin  8
Gray Catbird  3
Northern Mockingbird  2
European Starling  100
Cedar Waxwing  2
Common Yellowthroat  2
Magnolia Warbler  1
Blackpoll Warbler  1
Palm Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  8
Black-throated Green Warbler  5
Field Sparrow  1
White-crowned Sparrow  7
White-throated Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  6
Lincoln's Sparrow  3
Swamp Sparrow  8
Eastern Towhee  8
Northern Cardinal  8
Red-winged Blackbird  325
Rusty Blackbird  40
Common Grackle  3
House Finch  5
American Goldfinch  36
House Sparrow  5





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