Dan Hall joined me today for a cold day of birding. Thehigh temperature was 25; winds at times gusted upwards of 40 MPH; snow burststhat gave us white-out conditions; and a wind-chill index was worthy of HudsonBay. Still somehow we pulled a good day of birding out of it. Our travelsincluded Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area (Wyandot County), Upper SanduskyReservoir (Wyandot County) and Big Island Wildlife Area (Marion County).
Highlights at Killdeer Plains included a Saw-whet Owl inthe pine grove off CH-71; an incredible show by the Northern Shrike on CH-71just west of TH-108 (more on this later); flocks of Lapland Longspurs,approximately 12 on CH-77 and a flock of close to 100 on CH-71 between TH-108and CH-115, Rough-winged Hawks including one feeding on the ground near the carand several Bald Eagles. No sign of Long-eared Owls today.
Back to the Northern Shrike. We first located it perchedon the wire on the south side of CH-71. It lifted off and flew closer. Finallyit landed in the shrubbery a mere 25 feet from us and began devouring a vole.After it had enough it flew away along the brush line, leaving the rest of thevole impaled on a thorn and swinging in the wind.
At first the Upper Sandusky Reservoir looked to be abust. It appeared that the only things there were Canada Geese. I always giveflocks of Canada Geese a closer look in hopes of finding a stowaway. In midflock we spotted the “odd goose”, followed by five friends. In all there weresix Cackling Geese in the flock of several hundred Canada Geese. 
At Big Island Wildlife Area we located several BaldEagles including one that was investigating a local resident’s garbage at thecurb. It lifted off when several cars came along, landing in the resident’sback year. 
The thing that surprised me the most was the absence of ducksat every location. We saw Mallards and a few Redheads, but nothing else. Withplenty of open water I had expected to see a reasonable variety of ducks, butnada, they were not to be found.
Dan and I should get a merit badge for winter survivaltraining.
Our overall list follows, Charlie Bombaci for Dan andmyself.
Canada Goose
Cackling Goose (6)
Tundra Swan (17)
Trumpeter Swan (2)
Mallard
Redhead (4)
Bald Eagle (8)
Northern Harrier (17 F, 6 M)
Red-tailed Hawk (2)
Rough-legged Hawk (4)
American Kestrel
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Northern Saw-whet Owl (1)
Red-headed Woodpecker (1)
Downy Woodpecker (1)
Northern Shrike (1)
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark (100+)
Carolina Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow (20+)
Dark-eyed Junco
Lapland Longspur (100+)
Northern Cardinal
House Sparrow

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