Seen yesterday (March 9) and today (March 10) at the T J Evans Family Park,
a City of Newark park off Route 13 in north Newark:

 

Pied-billed grebe – at least 4

Double-crested cormorant – yesterday around 4 p.m., watched 4 fly in

Mute swan – 1

Canada goose – XXX (This morning I watched a V very high, moving directly
north, that numbered in the hundreds – possibly 1000)

Wood duck – 9 males and 2 females

American wigeon – 2 males, 1 female

Mallard – XX

Blue-winged teal – 2 males, 2 females

Canvasback – XX yesterday, only 6 today

Redhead – XX yesterday, about 10 today

Ring-necked duck – XX, with more yesterday than this morning

Bufflehead – 1 female, this morning

Hooded merganser – three males, yesterday and possibly some females, but
very distant and hard to ID

Turkey vulture – 5

American coot – XX

Killdeer – XX

Ring-billed gull – 2

Mourning dove – XX

Tree swallow – 4

American robin – XX

Carolina chickadee – X

Tufted titmouse – X

American crow – X

American goldfinch – X

Song sparrow – several, in full song this morning

Dark-eyed junco – X

Northern cardinal – XX

Red-winged blackbird – X, doing their territorial calls

Common grackle – XX

 

TJ Evans Park is within the Newark city limits, off State Route 13 north.  I
believe that it was created from the remnants of old quarries along the
North Fork of the Licking River, just north of the city’s water treatment
plant.  There are several water containment ponds, only one of which is
fully open water at this time.  Yesterday, there were over 1,000 waterfowl
on the open water.  This morning between 8 am and 9:30 am, there were only
around 75 to 100, and those that were there were very wary.  The waterfowl
are moving!  As I was there, the wood ducks came in, and went out again
after resting about 15 minutes.  The cormorants that came in yesterday as I
watched were gone this morning.  The widgeon came in, swam around for about
30 minutes, and then left, the three of them together coming and going.
There were no tree swallows last evening, but four in evidence today,
actively working over the open water.  I birded in a steady misting rain
this morning until it started coming so hard that I couldn’t keep my
binocular lenses clear.

 

Also of note, I took Cookie out to Black Hand Gorge yesterday from 5:30 to 7
pm, mostly for exercise as I didn’t expect much in the way of birds.
However, I was treated to as close a view of “our” bald eagle that I have
ever had of any bald eagle.  This guy was sitting on a sturdy limb directly
over the river bank where it comes closest to the bike path about ¾ mile
from the western end.  He swiveled his head to keep an eye on us, but
otherwise didn’t move a muscle.  We passed almost directly beneath him.  His
mate was on the nest, barely visible from the bike path, maybe ¼ mile from
this spot on the river.  This was the closest I have been to a bald eagle
since I visited Homer, Alaska, in 2002, where people feed the eagles and
they are pretty tame.  Simply amazing!  There were also two pair of hooded
mergansers in that river bend pool.  Likewise, it was the closest I had ever
been to this duck, and I was impressed with the beauty of the drakes in full
breeding plumage.  So, although I had hoped to get a look at an early
eastern phoebe, it was not a total bust and the exercise was needed by both
my dog and myself.

 

For those who are counting, I already have 55 species in the first ten days
of March, in Licking Co.  

 

Margaret Bowman

Licking Co., OH


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