OHIO-BIRDS Archives

October 2007

OHIO-BIRDS@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Robert Royse <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Robert Royse <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:09:04 -0700
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (32 lines)
Thanks to the many people who sent me news of the LeConte's Sparrows at Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area this weekend!

I headed there at the crack of dawn and easily found three the first place I looked.  I'm glad I got there as early as  I did, since the wind started picking up just a little bit and they seemed to hunker down quickly. After 9:00 or so, I only caught glimpses of one of them srurrying on the ground. Other birds noted there today included mostly what has already been reported by others : Song, Swamp, and LIncoln's Sparrows, a flyover flock of 25 Sandhill Cranes, Wilson's Snipes, etc.

Le Conte's in a new one for my Ohio list, but I have visited their breeding grounds often in late May and early June. They have long been one of my favorite species, but I never held much hope of ever seeing one in Ohio. There sure seems to be alot of them in the state this year, and I wonder where they're coming from. One thing I have noticed is that their numbers really fluctuate a lot on their breeding grounds, especially at the peripheries of their range. I have been to their SW outpost at the Medicine Lake NWR in Montana three diferent times (2000, 2001, and 2004 I think). In 2000 there were quite a few LeConte's around, but in 2001 they were everywhere and even singing on fence posts in the farmlands outside the refuge. Conditions looked great for them in 2004 with good rains and lush grasses, but none were to found anywhere. They weren't even present at their even more reliable locale of Lostwood NWR an hour's drive further east in ND that year. In the heart of their range in Manitoba, I have easily found them at the Oak Hammock Marsh near Winnipeg on my 3 visits there, but one year I tallied over 50 and a couple years later (a drier year) I could only find a few. For the SE edge of their range we don't have to go far. They can usually be found in the eastern UP of Michigan in Chippewa County, but their numbers seem to fluctuate there a lot too from what I have ever been able to tell. The most reliabe place for them is the Muniscong Bay WMA east of Rudyard, but they're certainly not a guarantee. I was up there in late May every year between from 2000-2005, and I think I found them every year but one or two. One year (I forget which one now) there seemed to be a big influx of them and could be found in fallow fields all over the area including Centerline Rd. of Snowy Owl fame in the winter. Of course those birds are sporadic singers and maybe I just overlooked them on some visits or the weather wasn't good, but they really do seem unpredictable. If someone has access to records of when they occur in Ohio in good numbers, it would be interesting to see what their breeding distribution was that year. Are Ohio LeConte's coming from due N in Michigan? Maybe there's no realationship at all between their breeding range and migration movements. Who knows?

I brought along a camera for the first time in a long while, and it was worth it. I was able to get my camera on a couple of them briefly. I have updated the LeConte's page at my website with this morning's photos :

http://www.roysephotos.com/LeContesSparrow.html

A larger view of my favorite one is on the home page :

http://www.roysephotos.com


Bob Royse


Robert Royse
[log in to unmask]
www.roysephotos.com

______________________________________________________________________

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]

ATOM RSS1 RSS2