January 17, 2009

Tomorrow I am leaving (again) for work in southern California, but it has been a very interesting "visit" home to the farm. The heavy snow (8 inches total here) and frigid temperatures (we hit minus 9  F on two consecutive nights - cold enough) have brought what I am assuming are most of the local species to our feeders: black oiler sunflower, thistle, and suet.

The most interesting visitors, at least to me, have been three male eastern towhees. I had not seen nor heard the species in the woods since November, but after the heavy snow came, sure enough, there they were on the ground fielding sunflower seeds dropped by the sparrows.

A few white-throated sparrows and a few American tree sparrows have also been interesting. Other than those, no unusual species have been frequenting the site between the house and the sheep barn, but the numbers have been impressive. In addition to the aforementioned our fairly ordinary winter complex includes:

house sparrows (the local hoard)
song sparrows
dark-eyed juncos
house finches
goldfinches
northern cardinals (females have been visiting frequently, the extreme conditions brought in the males - interesting)
Carolina chickadees
tufted titmice
white-breasted nuthatches
Carolina wren (one was scavenging mohair from the cat box on the back porch) 
mourning doves
euro-starlings
red-bellied woodpeckers
downy woodpeckers
(I have heard flickers and pileated woodpeckers in the woods)
bluejays

An overflight of 33 honking Canada geese this morning was impressive. All appeared to be the giant race.

We have had occasional Cooper's hawks since the onset of winter. They are welcome to the house sparrows, which show no drop-off in numbers here. Jane, a non-birder (but observant farmer), saw a "bluejay with an orange breast" in the yard a week and a half ago, which she reported to me by phone, since I was working as usual in Orange Co., CA. I referred her to pictures of Cooper's and sharpies, and together we saw a smallish, male Cooper's in the woods during our walk Wednesday morning. She thinks the bird she saw was even smaller than the one we watched, so the one she saw may have been a sharp-shinned, which would be a new "yard" bird for our farm on Flint Ridge. But, that's not the way the rules go in my world. More definitive observation is required for the Valhalla Acres Bird Records Committee. (I am the sole member of this occasionally respected body.) The sighting stands as Accipiter sp.

Bob Evans
Geologist, etc.
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County
DeLorme 70 A1 (classic editions)

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