Howdy All,
After a late start due to the snow, I headed north for some birding, as
stormy, snowy days are often good birding days.  I first went to the
Melvin Quarry to look for waterfowl.  The quarry is west of Rt 22
northeast of Wilmington.  I usually go north on I71 to exit 58, SR 72 and
go east to Rt 22.  A right turn at Rt 22 and a few miles and another right
turn in Melvin gets me to the quarry.  On the way north on I71, just
beyond mile marker 40 in a water filled borrow pit, I found 2 MUTE SWANS,
the first new bird for the year for Sunday.  The Melvin Quarry can be a
good spot for waterfowl in January, but it was not so yesterday.  I found
6 Canada Geese, 1 American Coot, 30 Ring-billed Gulls, one American Robin,
one Eastern Bluebird and a flock of Rock Pigeons.  Not a very promising
start for a snowy Sunday.  I was at the quarry at about noon or shortly
thereafter.

After a short visit to the Melvin Quarry, I headed west on Melvin Road,
the road that the quarry is on, and continued west past Prairie Road to
Starbuck Road.  This can be found in Delorme page 76 and continuing on
page 66.  According to MapQuest, Melvin Road turns into Gleason Road TH
217 at the intersection with Prairie Rd.  I usually drive the roads in
this area in the winter to look for flocks of Horned Larks and any other
similar open country birds.  Along Melvin Road, I found a small flock of
Horned Larks (about 10) concentrated along the road edge and several small
flocks of Mourning Doves (about 30 total) and a few European Starlings.
With the snow cover, the road edge provided some relatively open ground
and vegetation for feeding.  I turned right on Starbuck Road, and slowly
drove this road.  I found several relatively large flocks of Horned Larks
also concentrated at the road edge.  I found two large flocks of Horned
Larks on Starbuck with LAPLAND LONGSPURS mixed in.  One was along the road
edge and the second was on the right hand side on a field entry pull in
location.  I counted seven Lapland Longspurs in each of these two flocks.
Starbuck Road crosses I71 at the bridge just before the Rt 72 exit (going
north).  Just before the bridge I turned right on Gallimore Road and drove
this road slowly to Rt 72.  Gallimore Road briefly joins with Sullivan
Road, TH 183, but turn left when Gallimore meets Sulivan to continue on
Gallimore Road.  On Gallimore beyond the intersection with Sullivan, I
found another large flock of Horned Larks, again with seven Lapland
Longspurs.  These are probably low counts of Lapland Longspurs in these
areas, but the birds were nervous and didn't stay on the road edge very
long so my counts are not completely accurate.  I estimate that I had
about 130 Horned Larks in the flocks in this area, and 21 Lapland
Longspurs.  I suspect that this area could also produce American Pipts,
but i did not hear any yesterday.  A word of caution about this area,
Starbuck and Gallimore are narrow county roads, and there are few, if any,
places to pull off.  I drove slowly, and stopped on the road.  Only two
vehicles passed me, one going the opposite direction and one going the
same direction.  However, traffic was light, as this was on Sunday on a
snowy day, when the roads were not completely cleared in spots.  I expect
that there will be more traffic during the week.  Gallimore Road is the
first right hand turn on Rt 72 going east from I71.

I stopped by Caesar Creek SP at the beach.  The water level is very high,
covering the beach and part of the grassy edge to the beach.  There were 6
Killdeer along the edge of the water, and about 50 American Coots.  I
stopped at the boat ramp north of the beach, and found more American
Coots, another Killdeer and two large flocks of gulls resting on the
water.  My best guesstimate is that there were about 300 gulls in these
two flocks, all Ring-billed Gulls.  I tried for Hermit Thrush in the woods
along the edge of the boat ramp parking lot, but found only about 10
Dark-eyed Juncos, a few Carolina Chickadees and a Carolina Wren.  As I was
driving toward the exit on the road from the boat ramp, I found the sought
HERMIT THRUSH feeding in the middle of the road.

I arrived at Spring Valley WA at the parking area for the boardwalk at
about 5:00 pm.  When I entered the feeder station viewing blind at the
parking lot, a large flock of birds flew away from the ground under the
feeders.  I sat quietly and waited.  Slowly the birds returned.  At the
peak concentration of birds present, I had 5 FOX SPARROWS in view at one
time, and perhaps one more to make 6!  WOW!  What a sight!  That's the
most Fox Sparrows I have ever seen together at one time in one place. Also
present, were about 30 White-throated Sparrows, one immature White-crowned
Sparrow, about 5 Song Sparrows, 20 Tree Sparrows and about 12 Northern
Cardinals.  Then I walked the trail to the board walk, which has a lot of
damage to the railings, probably due to vandalism.  I heard about 10 Swamp
Sparrows chipping in the marsh.  On my way back to the parking lot, a
small flock of 3-4 Red-winged Blackbirds stopped in the treetop on the
south side of the boardwalk, before flying down into the marsh, apparently
to roost for the evening.  Suddenly another larger flock appeared and
landed in the top of one of the Sycamore Trees on the south side at the
entry to the boardwalk.  I found 8 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS in this flock.  In the
marsh and multiforal roses bushes just along the south edge of the path to
the boardwalk near the entry end of the boardwalk, I heard the alarm note
of a Brown Thrasher.  It sounds like a softer version of the similar note
made by a Northern Mockingbird and can be imitated by vigorously kissing
the back of ones hand.  However, the bird  would not respond to my
imitation, so I will delay counting this bird until I can get back there
when it is earlier, and there is more light.  It was about 6:00 pm when I
arrived back at my car in the parking lot.

I ended the day with 96 birds for January 2007 with a good possibility for
97, if confirmed.
Jay

Jay G. Lehman
Cincinnati, OH
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