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:
Rob Thorn <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
[log in to unmask][log in to unmask], 16 Oct 2006 19:25:22 -0400391_US-ASCII I made a quick visit to the Deer Creek Reservoir this afternoon. Unfortunately it turned out to be a crappy day with rain or drizzle the whole time I was there, so birding was limited. The water level is finally being let down there, and mudflats are beginning to appear at the north end near Pancoastburg. Some of the birds seen at the few vantage points I checked included : [...]40_16Oct200619:25:[log in to unmask]
Date:
Sun, 22 Oct 2006 04:27:23 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (40 lines)
I spent the morning hours birding these two areas and points in-between, taking in a good stretch of the Alum Creek valley north of Columbus. Alum Lake was hunted, so waterfowl acitivity was low, but temperate landbird migrants continued their strong migration. The early morning was cloudy & chilly, but by 10 it had cleared off and warmed a fair bit after that. even allowing some surviving butterflies and dragonflies to have one last afternoon of activity around the fields at Heritage Park and Sharon Woods. Bird highlights included

Waterfowl - only 1 Common Loon graced the lower hunted regions of Alum Lake, but the Heritage Park Lakes and Shrock Lake (in Sharon Woods) had many Canada Geese and some Pied-billed Grebes, Coots, & Ruddy Ducks.
Raptors - surprisingly scarce, with a few Red-tails and 1 Cooper's. I only had 3-4 Turkey vultures the entire stretch (which is low here).
Gulls - Alum Lake beach had 80+ RIng-bills, 12 Bonapartes, and 3 Herring, while Heritage Park fields had 120+ Ring-bills

Woodpeckers - good numbers all along, with 12+ Flickers and 1 sapsucker (Alum Lake dam visitor's center) noteworthy
Swallows,Flycatchers - only 3 Tree Swallows at Alum Lake, but had Phoebes at several spots, including 2 at Apple Ridge (SharonWoods)

Corvids - good movement of Blue Jays, with 60+ all morning. 20 birds at Sharon Woods kept flying back & forth at the southern edge of the park, no doubt contemplating crossing the busy I-270 freeway south into suburban Columbus. Also had several flocks of Crows.

Nuthatches,Creepers - No Red-br.Nuthatches in the small pine clusters around ALum Lake and Sharon Woods, but White-breasteds were at many locations. Alum lake dam visitors center and Heritage Park each had 2-3 Brown Creepers

Wrens - 6+ Winter Wrens at Alum Lake in 2 hours was a good number and a House Wren at SharonWoods was an added bonus. Even better, though, was an obvious migrant SEDGE WREN calling and poking through a tiny swamp at Heritage Park

Kinglets - good numbers all morning, with totals of 15-20 Ruby crowns and nearly that many Golden-crowns
Thrushes - only 2 Hermit Thrushes (both Alum Lake Dam visitors center), but flocks of Robins everywhere (highest # was 140+ at New Galena boat launch). 7+ E.Bluebirds were also around the southern reaches of Alum Lake.

Warblers - Yellow-rumps everywhere in small and large flocks. Poking through the flocks added 1 Magnolia (New Galena boat launch), 1 Nashville (Alum Lake dam visitors center) and 1 Black-thr.Green (ditto)

Sparrows - Nothing unusual, but a good day for Chipping, with flocks of 30 at the Alum Lake visitors center and 25+ at Sharon Woods, along with 2-4 at most stops. At Sharon Woods they were foraging around the Shrock Lake picnic area oaks, whispering memories of the oak savannah habitat they probably favored before most of it was wiped away. Even larger where the flocks of White-throats at most stops, which probably totaled 140+ for the entire morning. Small groups of Juncos were at the Alum Lake dam and Heritage Park.

Icterids - small flocks of Redwings flying over southward at most stops, along with a few grackles
Finches - an influx of Goldfinches, with flocks around south Alum Lake and the Sharon Woods fields. First PINE SISKIN was a flyover at New Galena boat launch at Alum Lake.



Rob Thorn
[log in to unmask]
EarthLink Revolves Around You.

______________________________________________________________________

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