Hi all,



Thanks to Margaret Bowman for posting her observations of today's trip to
the Wilds in Muskingum County, and I'll add a few more. About 70 guests and
members of the Ohio Ornithological Society and Columbus Audubon spent a fair
chunk of the day exploring the place, and in spite of light but steady rain
all morning, we found a lot.

Thirteen species of waterfowl were recorded, and I was interested to see
Donald Morse's note about seeing 30 Snow Geese in Clermont County today. We
had a flock of 47 birds late in the afternoon today, comprised of 25 "snows"
and 22 "blues". There were also Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler,
Ring-necked Duck, Mallard, American Black Duck, Canada Goose, Northern
Pintail (flock of 22!), Bufflehead, and Ruddy Duck.

Raptors are so-so this winter at the Wilds; I suspect the Meadow Vole
population is at the bottom end of the cycle. Nonetheless, we had plenty of
Northern Harriers and three or so Rough-legged Hawks. The Golden Eagle was
seen by a number of us from the large observation deck near the junction of
Zion Ridge Rd. and State Route 284, and even more unusual for this site was
a subadult Bald Eagle that winged by. Some in my party were treated to good
looks of an adult male Sharp-shinned Hawk - a very neat bird.

Towards dusk, several Short-eared Owls put on quite a show in the fields out
front of the observation deck, hunting the grasslands and occasionally
battling each other and the harriers. We were even able to hear their
curious barking calls from time to time.

The Northern Shrike was seen early in the morning at the junction of Zion
Ridge Rd. and State Route 146, and at the end of the day Bill Thompson and
group had a calling American Woodcock there. This is not our typical
January!

For more information about the Wilds, go here:
http://www.ohiobirds.org/birdingsites/showsite.php?Site_ID=2

If you would like to see some photos of the day, go to my blog at:
http://www.ohiobirds.org/blog/blog.php

Thanks to all who helped with this trip, and everyone who came out and
participated!



Jim McCormac

Columbus, Ohio




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