Hello all,
The past few days I have played upon a hunch and I checked out 6 gravel habitats in Logan county.  As Bill posted last week the bird I found in Shelby County was at an old gravel pit, so I checked 5 old gravel pits and the Bellefontaine landfill, al in Logan County.  I was able to find male blue grosbeaks in 2 of the six locations.  The one with the easiest access is the road that goes behind the Bellefontaine Landfill.  One was perched on a barbed wire fence about a half mile east of the railroad tracks on township rd 57.  This marks the sixth location in the past two years I have found blue grosbeaks in Logan County Alone!  This leads me to believe there must be a steady population between southern Ohio and the Oak Openings.  I have noticed, as others have before me, that there are several indicators that could help locate blue grosbeaks in central Ohio.  One, find an old gravel pit or landfill that has grown up along the edges.  There needs to be at least a small field habitat though it doesn't have to have much more than a few shrubs and Queen Anne's lace.  A small woodlot (10-12 medium sized trees) along the edge of this habitat would help as well.  Playing a tape will entice the birds out, but I have noticed they don't usually respond by voice.  They come to the area where the tape is being played quietly, so you have to keep an eye out for them, but don't get discouraged if you don't hear a reply.  The second type of habitat I have found them in is large(at least 5 acres or so) Tall grass fields with either a few small shrubs, or an adjaced small woodlot.  It might be interesting to note that all of the blue grosbeaks I have found in this habitat have shared it with Henslow's sparrows and/or Dickcissels.  They seem to sing all afternoon long, so being familiar with there song is a MUST.  Also, knowing thier metallic chip note helps.  Now, back to the gravel pits...  Why in the world would a blue grosbeak prefer gravel-based soil?  Bill Whan hypothesized that it had something to do with temperature as this environment tends to be warmer.  Thats an interesting hypothesis.  The question that also has to be asked is are these birds new additions to this part of the state, or are they just now being detected.  Having them in at least 8 locations between Clark, Shelby, and Logan Counties make west central ohio a rival to Adams county as the place to get blue grosbeak!  One female even put in an appearance at my aunts feeder in June!  I tend to belive that the birds have not been present for a along time.  I think they are starting to move north.  Evidence for this might be the Oak opennings population which is getting larger every year.  There have been so many great birders in that area that I refuse to believe that these birds wouldn't have been found 20 years ago if they were in the same locations.  Also, I've birder several of these locations for at least ten years and just started finding them the past couple.  That could be that I wasn't really looking for them though.  Anyways. The debate goes on, and I would love to hear comments. 
 
Now onto the next item up for bid.....
Today I drove the short drive in the pooring rain to Celina to look for the Euco Doves found by Brian last week.  I found 2 at the Wendy's and at least two along the lake shore on the wires along Warren rd near its intersection with Cherry rd. These could have been the same birds, but I have to think there are at least 4 maybe 5 birds in this area.  I was able to photograph two at once, so I know there are at least two.  If you want to look for these birds I would have the following plan:  Start at the Wendy's and look at the wires AND the poles behind it.  Then drive south to the next main rd and work your way to the lake shore(left).  There is a little lakeshore park with basketball courts and such in this area and there is a railroad behind it.  Along this railroad are tall powerlines.  I saw two birds in this area. They are actively calling so keep your windows down.  On a side note the fish hatchery had nothing of interest and no habitat....Hope everyone has a great day!
Cheers,
Troy Shively    
_________________________________________________________________
PC Magazine’s 2007 editors’ choice for best web mail—award-winning Windows Live Hotmail.
http://imagine-windowslive.com/hotmail/?locale=en-us&ocid=TXT_TAGHM_migration_HMWL_mini_pcmag_0707
______________________________________________________________________

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]