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March 2009

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From:
Robert Royse <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Robert Royse <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 4 Mar 2009 16:52:29 -0800
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I had a few free hours this afternoon to poke around the Deer Creek Wildlife Area in Fayette and Pickaway Counties. The place is loaded with birds. 

I started at the reservoir which was partially frozen. The open areas had massive quantities of gulls and ducks. Too many to even estimate really. Gulls noted included :

Ring-billed Gulls (thousands)
Herring Gulls (hundreds)
2 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS (1 adult, 1 2nd year)
1 GLAUCOUS GULL (1st year)
1 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL (3rd year)

Who knows what else may have been lurking there that I missed?  I didn't notice a single Bonaparte's among them. 

Several thousand ducks were congregated at the available open water. Most abundant were Redheads, Canvasbacks, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Mallards and Canada Geese. Also noted were all 3 Mergansers, Am. Wigeon, N Pintails, Gadwalls, Am. Black Ducks, Green-winged Teals, Buffleheads, C Goldeneyes, and Ruddy Ducks. Even some of that second group numbered in the hundreds.  With all the gulls there I must admit that I didn't look at the waterfowl too carefully and might have missed something interesting. A blue-phase SNOW GOOSE did catch my eye as I was scoping out the gulls.

Other birds worth mentioning seen around the reservoir included a Black Vulture, a Bald Eagle on the ice, the NORTHERN SHRIKE at the entrance to the beach lot, and the MERLIN near the Marina.

Fields throughout the area still hosted a number of Northern Harriers. Red-winged Blackbirds were conspicuously singing on territory throughout the wildlife area. One farm field south of the reservoir that was recently plowed probably had another thousand or so gulls (probably mostly Ring-billeds) foraging on it.

The wetland area at New Holland also had some good birding. The ODNR access road that you walk down is now flooded and probably will remain so through the spring. If you're heading to Deer Creek in the next couple of months be sure to take at least calf high boots. Despite the fact that the wetlands were mostly frozen, all the regular puddle ducks were present in good numbers at the available open water. For kicks I decided to count the N Pintails. I estimated maybe 250, but my tally was 574 of them. There was a similar number of Am Wigeons and Mallards there too along with ~100 each of Green-winged Teals, Gadwalls, Ring-necked Ducks, and Redheads with a lesser number of Hooded Mergansers. A pair of Wood Ducks and maybe another 750 Ring-billed Gulls were also utilizing that open water. On the thawed grassy margins of the wetlands were 9 Killdeers and  a Wilson's Snipe. Passerines got the short stick for my attention today, but several singing Am.Tree Sparrows was a wonderful thing to hear on the walk to the wetlands. 2 Field Sparrows were present in that flock (~25 birds) with them. 

On the way back north I only had time for one quick peek at my favorite sparrow field in the northern part of the wildlife area. Again, Am. Tree Sparrows were the most conspicuous with a large flock gathered of well over 150 birds. 

Things should really pick up there in the next couple of weeks, even the next couple of days, as thing start thawing out for real.

Bob Royse


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

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