Today  began with reasonable expectations that seem meek as I reflect on how 
the day  went. Bruce Simpson met me at my house and we headed north for Oak 
Hill Cemetery  where Bruce planned to take pictures of the White-winged 
Crossbills. When we  arrived at the cemetery we met David Holcomb who was also there 
to photograph  the crossbills. We ended up birding as a trio the rest of the 
day. 
After  I parked at the cemetery we walked to the Hemlock Trees the crossbills 
seem to  prefer. As I approached I could hear them chattering in the tree and 
we  immediately located the birds. Both Bruce and David began taking pictures 
and  thought they were pleased with their success, that is until a sizable 
number of  the crossbills decided to drop in and feed on small pine cones on the 
ground,  right in front of them. The birds were oblivious to their presence 
of Bruce and  David and the low clicking as they shot picture after picture. 
The crossbills at  one point were within five feet of the guys as they continued 
taking pictures.  My conservative estimate is that the birds had over 150 
shots taking of them.  Digital has its advantages. My Nikon F2 SLR which uses 
film would have been left  in the dust. Eventually we decided to move on and 
continue our planned  route. 
We  next stopped at the Upper Sandusky Reservoir to check for waterfowl. 
Based on  Rick Counts recent report I was looking for the 3 Cackling Geese that 
have been  there. They proved to be stinkers and it took some time to sort them 
out of the  thousand or so Greater Canada Geese. A small goose sleeping behind 
a large goose  is a hard object to perceive, but eventually we did locate the 
Cackling Geese.  But as we were looking for them we also found Tundra Swans, 
white morf Snow  Geese, Northern Pintails and Ruddy Ducks.  
The  next stop was for lunch – grilled Jungle Fowl on a bun. 
Back  on the road we checked Wyandot County C112. From the snow at my place 
last night  I expected the ground to be white. Not! The eagles Linda and I saw 
Friday were  long gone and all we located were some Horned Larks and a 
fly-over by a  Red-shouldered Hawk. 
Our  final stop was Killdeer Plains Wildelife Area. This proved to be much 
better.  Although there were a few hunters around they posed no problem for us. 
The  highlights at Killdeer were a fly-over by a flock of 88 Sandhill Cranes 
that  could be heard coming and going; a covey of 16 Northern Bobwhite viewed 
from  about 20 feet; multiple Northern Harriers; a couple of immature Bald 
Eagles; 4  Trumperter Swans, 23 Tundra Swans, 7 Red-breasted Mergansers; a few 
Horned  Larks; and a very cold looking Eastern Bluebird. The rest of the birds 
were the  usual suspects. 
I  counted a mere 42 species for the day, but considering what some of them 
were I  definitely can’t complain. The weather cooperated (didn’t do what they 
 forecasted), good birds, and very good company for the day (yea Bruce and  
David). 
Charlie Bombaci
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