OHIO-BIRDS Archives

March 2009

OHIO-BIRDS@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Robert Royse <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Robert Royse <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 9 Mar 2009 21:59:52 -0700
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (27 lines)
I headed back to Deer Creek today. There was a huge change in the birds there in the past 5 days. Gull numbers and variety, as expected, were greatly diminshed. There were only about 1500 Ring-billed Gulls and a couple of dozen Herring Gulls, at least that I saw.

Waterfowl was abundant in the reservoir - to say the least. There was no ice anywhere, so the birds were more spread out. The biggest concentrations could be scoped out from the overlook picnic areas on the S side of the reservoir. Lesser Scaup and Redheads were ABUNDANT. There were at least 2500 of each of those species. Red-breasted Mergansers came in a distant third (Mallards and Canda Geese excepted, of course) with a few hundred present.  Other diving ducks in the reservoir included lesser numbers of Ring-necked Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, Ruddy Ducks, Buffleheads, and Common Goldeneyes. Despite all the scaups and Redheads, I only saw one Canvasback in the reservoir. In the shallow area of the NW part of the reservoir were Green-winged Teals (50+),  Gadwalls, N Shovelers, N Pintails, Am. Wigeons, and several BLUE-WINGED TEALS (my first of the year). The NORTHERN SHRIKE is still present near the parking area for the beach. Numerous Turkey Vultures and at least 5 Black Vultures were also in the reservoir area.

The wetlands are also completely ice free and the large number of ducks were spread out over the whole area. Ring-necked Ducks were most numerous with perhaps ~800 present throughout the area. N Pintails, Gadwalls, and Am Wigeons weren't far behind. Surpisingly there were quite a few Canvasbacks in the wetlands (~200) which weren't using the reservoir. There is some decent shorebird habitat, but I only found Killdeers and a few Wilson's Snipes. That should change soon. Several N Harriers and a beautiful light phase ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK were also in the vicinity of the wetlands.  I saw my first TREE SWALLOWS of the year there too. 

Song Sparrows were singing on territory everywhere in the wildlife area. Am Tree Sparrows were still present, but in noticably lower numbers than 5 days ago. I saw Swamp and Savannah Sparrows in the wetlands, but they were probably wintering birds. I looked at some reliable spots for Vesper Sparrows, but I didn't see or hear any yet. They should be arriving soon.

I waited around until dusk for the American Woodcocks. I found a few around 7:45, when it was well past my dinner time so I called it quits for the day. 

Bob Royse


Robert Royse
[log in to unmask]
www.roysephotos.com

______________________________________________________________________

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]

ATOM RSS1 RSS2