Hi all,



I made my way bright and early to the flatlands of Paulding County and the
former Great Black Swamp, abutting Indiana way up in northwestern Ohio.
After seeing Micki and Doug Dunakin's report late last night of Barnacle
Goose, I knew where I was off to today.



No luck on the goose, unfortunately, despite multiple checks of the wetland
where it was found, along with stops at all of the other water-bearing sites
that I knew of in that area. There aren't many. I know that many will
possibly be quick to dismiss this goose as an escape; that is often the
default response for out-of-range waterfowl. And short of lunging from a
handy shrub and grabbing a fistful of feathers, or shooting the bird, we may
never know if this one is wild or not.



Barnacle Geese that have appeared in interior North America recently have in
one way or another had samples taken that could be subjected to stable
isotope analysis, which revealed that they came from a latitude on a par
with their breeding grounds in the far north. This would seem to eliminate
captive origins. There are a few Ohio specimens, and arrangements are to be
made to have material from those tested as well. Not sure how long all of
this will take. But it will be interesting to see the results.



I did find plenty of birds to look at. Numerous flocks of wary, wild Canada
Geese along with equally spooky migrant Mallards, and smatterings of
Green-winged Teal, American Black Ducks, and American Wigeon. A small flock
of Bonaparte's Gulls graced Paulding Reservoir, and it was nice to FINALLY
see more than a few American Kestrels - I probably had 15 in the Paulding
area, along with an exquisite male Northern Harrier. Five species of
shorebird was good for early November: lots of Killdeer, one Greater
Yellowlegs, one Least Sandpiper, about 15 Dunlin, and a Wilson's Snipe.



To echo Jen Brumfield's earlier post commenting about flight calls, I had
one Snow Bunting, detected high overhead. Believe it or not, some crude
imitations of his whistles brought him down low and around for a few circles
to check out the only upright object in a sea of flat freshly plowed bare
earth. I also had a dozen or so Purple Finches. This is a species that will
be missed big time if one isn't familiar with their soft bik bik calls.



Jim



Jim McCormac

Columbus, Ohio

Like nature? Visit my blog: http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/

Like birds? Join the Ohio Ornithological Society: http://www.ohiobirds.org






______________________________________________________________________

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]