A great day to get out and just enjoy.  Cookie (my "bird dog") and I walked
the western 2.26 miles of the Black Hand Gorge bike trail.



Most of the common winter birds were much in evidence:



Belted kingfisher - one male and one female, more than a mile apart

White-breasted nuthatches - many

Carolina chickadees - many

Golden-crowned kinglets - many heard, at least 7 seen

Brown creepers - at least 8 counted, more heard

Downy woodpeckers - at least 11 counted

Pileated woodpecker - one, heard only

Red-bellied woodpecker - one seen, another heard

Carolina wren - two heard only

Blue jays and crows - seen and heard

Canada geese - many overhead (one flock of 75+) and in the adjacent
cornfields

The feral geese that have lived along the river for a couple of years are
still there, or at least two of them are.  There were 7 or 8 of them,
graylag and hybrids, that all seemed to hang out together with a couple of
Canadas that seemed to have been injured.  Today, I first heard, and then
saw, just the two.



Of more interest, however, were the two birds on and near the horned owl
nest where the bald eagles attempted to nest last March.  I only had my
light-weight binoculars, and with the overcast light, could not positively
identify these birds.  However, my inclination is that these may be the
horned owls, as I definitely did NOT see any white. The one on the limb
stretched its wings while I was watching, but it was partially blocked from
view by branches.  If immature bald eagles were hunched .  Anyway,
intriguing.  I hope to get out tomorrow with my scope for a better look from
across Route 16, but there were definitely two very large birds, one on the
nest, and another on a limb a short distance away, and barely visible from
the bike path.  (Last spring, in good light, I could definitely see the bald
eagle on the nest from the bike path, and identify it clearly as such.
That's why I'm thinking that these may not be the eagles, but perhaps the
return of the horned owls.)



Margaret Bowman

Licking Co., OH


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