This past weekend, Saturday, 01/13/08 and Sunday, 01/14/08, I remained
here in southwest Ohio, to try for birds I believed could be found more
easily in the south in anticipation of the weather turning colder this
week.  On Saturday, I started late at Camp Dennison not far from my home
to look for the Bald Eagle that has been seen there and hoping that the
Northern Shovelers might venture to the gravel pits from the private
location at Camp Friedlander up the hill from Camp Dennison.
Unfortunately, I did not find the eagle or the shovelers.  Then, I went
to east Fork SP to several locations where I have seen kinglets, Brown
Creeper and Winter Wren.  I didn't find any of these birds, but I got a
lot of exercise walking on a bright, sunny and beautiful afternoon.
Finally, I went to the Riverside area in Hamilton along the Greater
Miami River, and walked from the sewage treatment plant to north of the
low dam in search of American Pipits and Killdeer, reported there by
Mike Busam.  North of the low dam I found six Killdeer, number 77 in
Ohio for January.  After walking back to and south of the sewage
treatment plant, I had only a fleeting view of a potential American
Pipit, but too fleeting to count a silent, distant and fast moving bird.
Oh well, the exercise was good for me!

 

On Sunday, I started the day at Spring Grove Cemetery looking for
Golden-crowned Kinglet and Red-breasted Nuthatch.  I arrived between
9:00 and 9:30 am, but things were very quiet.  I walked the area around
the woodland area and the small pond near section 118.  I soon met Lori
Brumbaugh and Lou Gardella nearby.  After about an hour I heard a
Golden-crowned Kinglet call several times, but I could not find
Red-breasted Nuthatch after searching all the conifer stands in the
area.  I finally found a single Red-breasted Nuthatch in a mixed feeding
flock in an area near the main entrance.  It seemed relatively easy to
find Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatch,
Red-bellied Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco, White-throated Sparrow,
Northern Cardina, a Northern Flicker, American Robins, American Crows,
the ubiquitous Starlings and a single Eastern Towhee, but the new birds
for January were hard.  I left Spring Grove Cemetery with 79 birds for
January, 2008.  I then drove north intending to try to get to Deer Creek
Reservoir hoping for some missing waterfowl.  I stopped on the way at
Caesar Creek SP to check for waterfowl, but found mostly waterfowl
hunters, and found an immature Herring Gull (80) on the beach with about
25 Ring-billed Gulls.  I continued to Deer Creek, but it was notable for
the lack of birds.  I found a Red-tailed Hawk about 20 Ring-billed Gulls
and few Canada Geese and a single swimming Mallard at the dam.  There
was a waterfowl hunter on the exposed ground at the edge of the dam, so
no wonder the waterfowl were scarce.  There was still enough time to get
to Columbus to try for the OSU Black-crowned Night Herons.  I discovered
that I didn't have exact instructions with me, but I knew that it was
along the Olentangy River at the Herrick Rd/Street/Boulevard bridge, as
the location has been variously described by previous posters to Ohio
Birds.  I wished that I had printed out Bob Royse's directions from one
of his posts.  However, I drove up Rt. 315 hoping that I would recognize
an exit to OSU from Bob's instructions.  Once I was north of exits
marked for OSU, I turned around and returned south on Rt. 315.  I took
my best guess and exited 315 at the Lane Ave. exit, and crossed the
Olentangy River quicker than expected.  So, I turned around again,
crossed the river again and turned south on Olentangy River Road hoping
to find Herrick Street.  The first intersection south of Lane Ave on
Olentangy River Road was John Herrick Drive.  I crossed the river and
found a quite empty parking lot directly in front of me after crossing
the bridge.  Just lucky I visited on a Sunday evening.  The parking
meters provide parking for a quarter for 15 minutes and a dime for 6
minutes.  At this point I was not exactly sure I was at the right place,
so I spent $0.45 (last of the big time spenders!  Ha!  Ha!) to look for
the Black-crowned Night Herons.  And there they were on the west side of
the river, easily visible even at about 5:00 pm in the rapidly fading
light in the drizzle.  I counted 9 birds.  So, I ended the day with 81
for January.  For me this January listing is a weekend and holiday
quest, so next weekend I'll head north to the lake to try for some of
the birds seen this past weekend.  Hopefully they will still be present.

Jay

 

Jay G. Lehman

Cincinnati, OH

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