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June 2009

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From:
Margaret Bowman <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Margaret Bowman <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:26:54 -0400
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I just completed the last of my 7 Licking County OBBAII blocks yesterday, and here are some data that I found interesting. 

 

My blocks featured the drainage basin of the North Fork of the Licking River, including some major tributaries.  It also consists of intensive agricultural tillage acreage, interspersed with wooded hills and riparian areas.  This area runs roughly from the Knox- Licking Co. line south through downtown Newark.  When I signed up, three of the blocks were already owned.  This year, one of the blocks was "disowned" and remains unsurveyed.  For those of you interested, the blocks are:  59C6NW, 59C6CW, 59C6SW, 59C6NE, 59C6SE, 59D6NW and 59D6CE.

 

Some observations, from June 2007 through June 2009::

 

Orchard orioles are everywhere.  They particularly like fence rows and wood edges that have wild cherry trees, and we have many of those in this part of Licking Co.  Some of the young are just now fledging, so keep watching!

 

Red-headed woodpeckers are alive and well in Licking Co.  Typical of my blocks, last Sunday, on a brief drive after church in one of my blocks, I saw seven individuals in seven different locations.  (The utility company has replaced wooden poles with metal ones along several roads in that block!)  This time of year, I'll start seeing the fledglings, as I did in the block that also contains downtown Newark, last summer.

 

Green herons inhabit nearly all the tributaries as well as the North Fork of the Licking River.  However, they are too shy to make an appearance from bridges, unless it is very early in the morning.  I recorded green herons on every stream that I was able to walk, well away from roads and traffic.  I found a stick nest during the winter, which I believe may have been a green heron nest, but the tree leaves have completely obscured the nest now, so I can't confirm it.  However, I've seen a green heron twice in the general area of that nest.

 

There is one very large open unmowed pasture field in one block that has nesting eastern meadowlarks, and twice (2007 and 2009), I have gotten distant views of bobolinks in this field.  I was never able to identify the owner. (I understand that the "owner" had died in 2006 or 2007, and the estate is in litigation.)  However, it would have been an interesting area to walk.  The habitat is perfect for blue grosbeaks, for example.  One of my grasshopper sparrows sings enthusiastically from a fence post along this field.

 

The block that contains downtown Newark held some surprises:  common nighthawk, a great blue heron rookery, and along the Licking River, at the eastern edge of the block, a northern parula and a family of red-headed woodpeckers.  Although they never actually nested there, bald eagles were listed by someone other than myself, because they hung around the heron rookery all winter.  They left in March of that year.  Speaking of bald eagles, I have residents of my blocks that report bald eagles routinely all along the North Fork and its tributaries.  Sometimes they hang around old red-tailed hawk nests.  They feed on deer carcasses, but they also fish the streams.  I see them regularly in winter, but have never seen them during nesting season.  However, I will remain vigilant.

 

Among warblers, the most common nesters are yellow warbler, common yellowthroat and hooded warbler.  If there is a small stream, fence row or woodlot edge that doesn't have at least two singing male common yellowthroats, I haven't found it.  Much less common, and none found in 2009 - ovenbird.  However, I did have prairie warbler, blue-winged, black and white (in two blocks), northern parula, cerulean (4 blocks), Kentucky and chat.  In an effort to get to 100, I took my bird call recordings to the field.  Despite playing the calls in every suitable habitat this past week, I was unable to come up with an American redstart, which seems like it should have been here. 

 

Species that I believe are here, but which I never observed:  ring-necked pheasant, great horned owl, ruffed grouse.

 

I located 99 species, although the most in any one block was 74.  I traveled over 1200 miles, and submitted 1663 observations.  I recorded 177.25 hours spent in blocks, and 35 "other" hours, either driving to or from home, or unsuccessful owling expeditions.  I learned more about birds and bird behavior than from all the reading, field guides and guided birding trips over the previous ten years.  As an example, from the deer stand of a landowner, I watched a female chat collect long stems of dead grass to build her nest, while the male did his crazy act from the same tree in which the nest was being constructed.  I met and enjoyed the company of several land owners who graciously gave me access to their properties, some of whom walked with me and were astounded at the diversity of avian fauna there.

 

Now I'm going to investigate some Knox County property where a sandhill crane colt was reported, by what seems like should have been a reliable observer.  I already know that there is another heron rookery on that property, and have recorded it.  And, I'm hoping to mentor a gentleman from my church who retired this past winter and wants to get involved in birding.  He just happens to live in a priority block, at the southern edge of Knox County and adjacent to one of my completed blocks.



Margaret Bowman

Licking Co., OH

 

 

 

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