I headed up to NW Ohio today to finish off my January century list. I won't have any more free time for the rest of the month to go very far from home, so it was now or never. I started the day with 96 species, so it wasn't that hard to get get 4 more. I ended up with 102.

NW Ohio is my least favorite direction to head in the state from Columbus because there are no good direct routes. I usually go up there through Kenton, since Rt. 23 is a hassle to get through from my part of town.  After a 2 1/2+  hour drive I arrived at my first stop, the Woodlawn Cemetery, around 10:00. I've had good luck finding redpolls there in past invasion years, and several people told me that they saw some there this winter. I spent well over an hour there where time passes quickly when you're wandering around looking through the trees. I found many Am. Goldfinches feeding in the sweetgums and sycamores, but no other finches. I did see one massive (~75 birds) finch flock fly overhead out of the park at one point. That flock might have had some redpolls or siskins in it, but if it did they weren't calling. I still remember that huge flock of W-w Crossbills that wintered there 10 or so years ago, and I always check that cemetery out when I'm up there in winter. Today wasn't productive, but if I lived in Toledo, I'd keep checking it, since there was still a lot of food on the trees that would be attractive to finches.

I then went to Pearson Metropark to check the feeders since I was driving by anyway. Am. Goldfinches were plentiful, but no northern finches. There were some R-b Nuthatches. A Cooper's Hawk ended the party soon after I arrived. I then swung over to the boat launch area by the Bayshore Power Plant. A Bonaparte's Gull was there, but it was devoid of ducks. I then went to the Maumee Bay SP. The feeders there too had many goldfinches, but no other finches. I poked around there for a while not finding much. Scoping out the lake from the beach, I could see a monster sized flock of ducks too distant to make out. I think they were mostly scaups. Fortunately there were a few birds in closer and I was able to add one a new species finally, #97 Common Merganser.

I made it to ONWR after 1:00, where I spent the next 2 hours walking out the the Crane Creek Estuary. Trumpeter Swans aren't countable in Ohio now, are they? People keep mentioning them. I usually ignore them, but there were some at the entrance to the refuge. On the way out I added the first of numerous Bald Eagle (#98). Getting out to the estuary I was expecting lots of Tundra Swans after seeing the reports, but there were only a couple of dozen there (#99). There were the reported massive numbers of Canada Geese and 47 Snow Geese. Scoping through them I found 6 Gr. White-fronted Geese (#100), but no smaller geese. There very well may have been some Cackling Geese in the massive flocks, but I didn't detect any. A Ross's Goose would have been more conspicuous, and none of the Snow Geese looked small to me. I could have spent two more hours there scoping through the Canada Geese, but enough was enough.

A quick drive down the causeway at Magee easily produced #101. The N Shrike was perched out in the open fairly close to the road on the mid stretch. A few trucks drove by and I didn't see it on the return drive.

I then went to Sheldon's Marsh. It was after 4:00 by that time, cold, and very windy. I didn't see the bittern or yellowthroat that were reported last weekend. They could have been present, but I only managed to get my binoculars on a Swamp Sparrow. On the way back to the parking area I walked through the woods finding a calling pair of Great Horned Owls. They were species #102, a species that I really didn't need to go all the way to Sheldon's Marsh to find, but I'll take it anyway.

Bob Royse

Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com

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