This was a Cincinnati Bird Club Field Trip.  We managed 65 species by
starting early and staying out until 6:00 pm and visiting all the
habitat types possible for this area.  John Habig joined me at 7:30 am
at the beach.  Later Rick Asamoto and Jim Frederick joined us.  We
birded at the beach, and the North and Furnas Boat Ramps and the cove
before reaching the 50 Springs Picnic Area and the adjoining woods and
edges.  We also birded the Visitor Center at the dam, the gorge below
the dam, grasslands at the observation tower along the road to the
Visitor Center, and then Spring Valley and the Roxanna area and Young's
Boat Ramp at the north end of the lake.  There were very few waterfowl
on Caesar Creek Lake.  We (John, Rick and I) ended the day at Young's
Boat Ramp were we added most of the shorebirds.  Highlights:  Close
views of an Osprey perched eating a fish, an American Woodcock flushed
from the grasslands near the observation tower, Rusty Blackbirds found
in a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds staging for roosting along the river
adjoining Spring Valley near the south parking lot, four species of
shorebirds-Greater Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, and Wilson's
Snipe found at the end of the day on the mudflats at Young's Boat Ramp,
a representative list of sparrows and the large flock of Turkey Vultures
gathering for roosting at dusk visible to the south from Young's Boat
Ramp near sunset. The Brown Creeper in the gorge below the dam was a
personal highlight, because it was my first of the season for Ohio,
having missed it in the winter and early spring of 2008.

     

Canada Goose 125, Wood Duck 5 (1 m, 4 f), Green-winged Teal 20, Redhead
1, Ring-necked Duck 50, Lesser Scaup 2, Ruddy Duck 33, Common Loon 3,
Pied-billed Grebe 12, Double-crested Cormorant 1, Great Blue Heron 5,
Black Vulture 3, Turkey Vulture 100+,  Osprey 3, Copper's Hawk 2,
Red-shouldered Hawk 1, Red-tailed Hawk 2, American Coot 30, Killdeer 52,
Greater Yellowlegs 1, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin 2, Wilson's Snipe 5,
American Woodcock 1, Bonaparte's Gull 4, Ring-billed Gull 25, Rock
Pigeon 1, Mourning Dove 100, Belted Kingfisher 4, Red-bellied Woodpecker
5 Downy Woodpecker 6, Hairy Woodpecker 4, Northern Flicker 9, Pileated
Woodpecker 1, Blue Jay 15, American Crow 35, Horned Lark 4, Tree Swallow
100, Carolina Chickadee 12, Tufted Titmouse 4, White-breasted Nuthatch
2, Brown Creeper 1, Carolina Wren 4, Golden -crowned Kinglet 6,
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 8, Eastern Bluebird 5, American Robin 200, Northern
Mockingbird 3, European Starling 300, Cedar Waxwing 50, Yellow-rumped
Warbler 18, Eastern Towhee 8, Chipping Sparrow 7, Field Sparrow 40,
Savannah Sparrow 1, Song Sparrow 20, Swamp Sparrow 3, White-throated
Sparrow 18, White-crowned Sparrow 3, Dark-eyed Junco 10, Northern
Cardinal 15, Red-winged Blackbird 550, Rusty Blackbird 2, Common Grackle
150, American Goldfinch 30.       


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