OHIO-BIRDS Archives

October 2006

OHIO-BIRDS@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Jay Lehman <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Date:
Sat, 21 Oct 2006 21:48:09 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (77 lines)
I arrived at about 8:00 am in the early morning fog and frosty
temperatures.  Some bird activity but rather slow early.  I spent all of
my time walking the edge of the wetland and prairie areas looking for the
rarer marsh sparrows, like Nelson's Sharp-tailed or LeConte's, and other
marshy spots, and did not visit the western tree-line border of the area.
At about 9:30 - 10:00 am when the sun finally broke through, bird activity
picked up as grasshoppers also became active then.  I finally found a
NELSON's SHARP-TAILED SPARROW at about 12:30 pm along the Farm Road west
of the bike trail but east of the wetland.  It was near a large shallow
depression in the prairie that has more sparse vegetation, and is located
close to and on the south side of the Farm Road.  I first found the bird
as it flushed from the shorter grass along the Farm Road, and as I tried
to get a better look I also flushed it several times from the sparse
vegetation in the shallow depression.  Sometimes it sat in the taller
prairie vegetation on the north side of the Farm Road, but back in the
vegetation and never out in the open.  I saw the bird about five or six
times between 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm.  I could see the orange colored
supercilium quite well even when it flew as well as the orange colored
upper breast and throat sharply demarcated from the very white
underparts/belly, the relatively darker back with gray and black and white
stripes.  One time when it sat still long enough I could see the gray
center of the crown and the grey cheek patch.  It was down-right balmy
when I left the area at about 1:30 pm with quite a few butterflies making
the rounds of flowers still blooming on the prairie.

Other birds of interest, but not in checklist order.

Turkey Vulture 2
Red-tailed hawk 2
American Kestrel 1
Killdeer 15
Wilson's Snipe 12
Tree Swallow 2
Bank Swallow 2
Sedge Wren 2
Carolina Wren 1
Palm Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 8
Eastern Bluebird 10
Song Sparrow  many
Swamp Sparrow  many
Chipping Sparrow 2
Field Sparrow  8
White-crowned Sparrow 10
Savannah Sparrow 5
Eastern Towhee 2
Eastern Meadowlark  40
Red-winged Blackbird about 200, several flocks
House Finch  5
American Goldfinch  50

At the park visitor's' center I found Dark-eyed Junco and White-throated
Sparrow.  I missed Lincoln's Sparrow for the day, because I did not bird
along the western edge tree-line, where they can be found this time of
year.  Ten species of sparrows is a good morning of birding, especially
when Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow is included!

The Sedge Wren's were very friendly.  One was at my feet when I tried to
photograph it but it was too close to find it in the lens!  They are nosy
little biddies.  Whenever I stood quietly, a Sedge Wren would come up
behind me to investigate, but disappear as soon as I tried a photograph.
Jay

Jay G. Lehman
Cincinnati, OH
[log in to unmask]


______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]

ATOM RSS1 RSS2