Howdy All,
In pursuit of 100 species in January, I started the day at 96.  I added
American Woodcock, Winter Wren, Northern Pintail, Long-eared Owl, and
Tundra Swan.

I visited East Fork SP (EFSP) at the Horseman's Trailer Parking Area
before first light.  Bill Stanley reported on cincinnatibirds.com an
American Woodcock displaying here on Wednesday, 01/24/07.  This is located
along the road from the north entrance to the north boat ramp.  The north
entrance to EFSP can be reached from Route 32 east from I275 taking the
exit at Half Acre Road.  It was rather cold Saturday morning and the
occasional wind interfered with hearing, but I did finally hear an
American Woodcock making the "chippering" notes that it makes when it
descends from its flight.  A brief look at the lake from the North Boat
Ramp revealed a large flock of gulls filling the air across the lake at
the south beach and a soaring Bald Eagle, which apparently put the gulls
in the air.  I found a Winter Wren in the wooded area just west of the
North Beach parking lot, in the weeds and piles of logs and branches
deposited there by high water.

At Englewood Metropark, Dayton area, if found the one Northern Pintail
across the lake from the boat landing area.  There was a flock of 20
Green-winged Teal.  These birds were reported by on January 23 by Ed and
Bev Neubauer.  Thanks Ed and Bev for the report on Ohio Birds!

At Killdeer Plains WA, I searched both pine groves.  Nothing in the main
one along Road 71.  After searching for at least an hour, I finally found
two Long-eared Owls in the far grove off of 108, which I accidentally
flushed.  These birds were very skittish, even though I was wallking
slowly and as quietly as possible, and they stirred up the local Blue
Jays--the jays screamed each time they flew.  When another group from
Cincinnati arrived, one of them found one of the owls as it flew in right
near him from the pines on the north side.  I was creeping up on the
location of this owl in the pines when it flushed.  We all stayed very
quiet and as motionless as possible to watch this bird.  It was very
difficult to see, as they are very skilled in the art of camouflage.  A
note about flying Long-eared Owls seems relevant.  When I saw these two
fly right over me, I thought that they were Short-eared Owls, because
their heads were very rounded and the under wing markings looked almost
identical to those of a Short-eared Owl.  However, when we saw the one
bird sitting, the facial discs and the raised long ears confirmed the ID.
The upper wings of Long-eared and Short-eared are also quite similar. Both
species have buffy wing patches, but Long-eared Owls are grayer on the
upper wings, which could be seen when these birds ducked into trees to
land.  This upper wing color difference is shown quite well in David
Sibley's field guide, one of the few places where one can conveniently
find this type of detail of birds in flight.  Sibley also shows that
Long-eared Owls have a rounded head like Short-eared in flight.  I guess,
as Bill Whan mentioned in a conversation on Sunday, 01/28/07, one could
easily tell a Long-eared Owl in flight by the facial discs, if the bird
was flying right toward you.  According to Sibley, there are other
details, like the amount and darkness of streaking on the underparts and
the amount of dark markings on the primaries from below in flight that can
be used to distinguish the two species.  However, one must study these
birds in the field in flight a lot to use the streaking on the underparts
and the under-wing-tip pattern.  I do not see them often enough.  In the
ponds along Marion Wyandot Road at the last parking area to the west, I
counted 43 swans, apparently all Tundra Swans, on the ice and in a small
patch of open water.  All of the swans with raised heads were Tundra
Swans, due to the concave (not flat) curved bill and forehead profile and
very narrow black line to the eye.  None of this group appeared to be
Trumpeter Swans.  For the birds with heads tucked, none were the larger
size of Trumpeter and none had neck bands.

I ended the day with 101 species for January, and before dark I headed
north to the Cleveland area.
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.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

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]