Conducted the monthly census on Sunday as part of the Lake Erie Islands
Christmas Count.  Participants included Shane Roberts, Sandy Tkach, Phil
Carrothers, and myself.  The warm weather had me worried as I thought birds
would have left and no northern birds moved in.  As it turns out, this was
the most productive December census in ten years.  The previous high number
of species was 53 but this count we had 60 species.  In addition, other
counters for the Christmas count lead by John Pogacnik added 9 species for
the island.  So it appears that Kelleys Island had 69 species for the day
but not all the data is in.  Information from South Bass, Middle Bass, North
Bass, and Peele Island are not in yet.

On Saturday afternoon, John Pogacnik and I scouted the island and setup mist
nets to attempt to trap Northern Saw-whets.  We caught one on Saturday night
and mist/fog prevented setup on Sunday night.  But Saturday night's bird all
ready had a band and it wasn't one of mine.  I will send in the data and see
where the bird has been.  

2       Common Loon
1       Pied-billed Grebe
3       Horned Grebe
1       Double-crested Cormorant
87      Canada Goose
*       Tundra Swan
23      Gadwall
5       American Wigeon
107     American Black Duck
402     Mallard
3       Mallard X American Black Duck
1       Lesser Scaup
1       Surf Scoter
*       White-winged Scoter
1098    Bufflehead
1348    Common Goldeneye
2       Hooded Merganser
16      Common Merganser
554     Red-breasted Merganser
*       Turkey Vulture
3       Bald Eagle
*       Sharp-shinned Hawk
1       Cooper's Hawk
1       Red-tailed Hawk
*       Killdeer
1       Purple Sandpiper
1       Bonaparte's Gull
206     Ring-billed Gull
1       California Gull (adult)
567     Herring Gull
1       Iceland Gull
5       Great Black-backed Gull
*       Mourning Dove
2       Eastern Screech-Owl
*       Great Horned Owl
*       Long-eared Owl
*       Northern Saw-whet Owl
1       Belted Kingfisher
18      Red-bellied Woodpecker
1       Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
39      Downy Woodpecker
1       Hairy Woodpecker
37      Northern Flicker
8       Blue Jay
48      American Crow
145     Black-capped Chickadee
1       White-breasted Nuthatch
25      Brown Creeper
31      Carolina Wren
3       Winter Wren
42      Golden-crowned Kinglet
2       Ruby-crowned Kinglet
24      Eastern Bluebird
53      Hermit Thrush
818     American Robin
1254    European Starling
3       American Pipit
56      Cedar Waxwing
56      Yellow-rumped Warbler
88      Northern Cardinal
13      American Tree Sparrow
3       Song Sparrow
5       Swamp Sparrow
104     White-throated Sparrow
46      Dark-eyed Junco
1       Brown-headed Cowbird
1       Purple Finch
215     House Finch
7       American Goldfinch
45      House Sparrow

60 species
7637 individuals

Monday had the Merlin in one of its usual trees.  Where was it on count day?
Also had American Woodcock, Rock Pigeons (very uncommon on the island),
Eastern Towhee, and Red-winged Blackbird.  Monday night captured and banded
2 more Northern Saw-whet Owls.  So there are at least three on the island.

Tuesday morning added Great Blue Heron to the count period.  Kelleys could
easily have had 75 species only for the Christmas count.  This maybe the
year for an Ohio count to break 100 species???


Tom Bartlett
Tiffin, Ohio
[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]