Greetings!

  Just got back from a great day of birding with my good buddy Cheryl Harner!

  We started the day at Greenlawn Cemetery (Columbus), which held a lot  of good birds, but no new one's for Jason's January list...until we got  the Merlin! We split up to look, right before we left and Cheryl found  the bird, in the tree to the extreme south end of the mausoleum drive  (the big mausoleum...just north of the pit). The bird provided amazing  looks for at least a half hour and then sat tight as we drive right by  it and out of the cemetery. Absolutely beautiful bird...and one of the  most cooperative that I have encountered. I am sure that Cheryl can  send you an amazing picture...if you want one. [THANKS, CHERYL!!] Also  had of note at Greenlawn:

  Red-breasted Nuthatch (2M & 1F) [The Pit]
  Pine Siskin (14+) [The Pit Thistle Feeders] <Life bird for Cheryl!>
  Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (3 Imm.) [One Section P / Two @ the Bridge]

  No Brown Creepers or Fox Sparrows! :(

  A quick trip to OSU (Drake Union...along the Olentangy River) yielded  14 Black-crowned Night-heron's, 4 of which were juveniles. [Thanks,  Cheryl for reminding me which lot to park in!]

 Killdeer  Plains was next and we were treated to views of 20+ Greater-white  Fronted Geese at Pond 27. There was also an open lead in the  impoundment just to the east of 27. Quite a few birds there, as well.  Lots of canadas, mallards and black ducks. No Tundra Swans. No  Long-eared or N.S.W. owls. No shrike. No meadowlarks! No pheasant or  bobwhite!! :( I did have wonderful views of about 10 S.E. Owls at  around 5:00 p.m.

 At this point Cheryl took off for home, and  I high-tailed it for CR 112 (of Rick Counts fame...just north of Upper  Sandusky on your Delorme gazetteer) and made it there in time to see a  mixed flock (approx. 50-50) of Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs. I  would say about 60+ birds or so.

 I think that puts me at  somewhere between 85-87. I left the official list in Athens and I  forgot what # the Snow Goose was! Oh, well. Got to hustle!!! Off to the  lake for gulls and ducks in the morning!

  Good birding,

  Jason


Jason S. Larson
Graduate Student
Ohio University
Dept. of Plant and Environmental Biology
315 Porter Hall
Athens, Oh  45701
[log in to unmask]
740-593-1126

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