Hi, Folks.  We had another good year at this southern Mahoning Co. sanctuary. With a current count of 184 as of Nov. 4, we will probably match or beat last year's list of 185 avian species. This year's count is in spite of a no show of the 2008 marbled godwits, willet, whimbrel, glossy ibis, phalaropes and a few other unusual sightings. The Big Sit count on Oct. 11 was 63. We had 18 species of shorebirds (the "umbrella" species for the sanctuary) this year, and both yellowlegs, dunlin, pectoral sandpiper and many killdeer and snipe are still present. Individual totals were sometimes over 100 with peeps accounting for most of the big numbers. Thousands of waterfowl stopped over in late winter including 24 species of duck and geese. The lower shorebird species count for this year is due to an overly long drawdown of the the large compounds as we await a long overdue installation of new stoplog drains. Some highlights for 2009 are a new record of 49 great egrets and 16 species of warblers, a very a high count for the sanctuary. The resident eagle pair once again lost their eggs in early winter, and we (and the DOW) remain at a loss as to why. Breeding species are much the same as those entered on the Ohio Atas ll in 2007, although we added at least three pairs of breeding chats, and, as usual, all sightings are available on the amazing eBird program. The list can be found under birding hotspots -- Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary (restricted). You can also pinpoint the location of the sanctuary on eBird. I love to plug this Cornell program; it is incredibly useful and convenient, not only for Cornell and other researchers, but for anyone managing any kind of bird population. 
 
We built a chimney swift tower with the Kyles' well tested plans and expect big things for next season. The experimental forbs (wildflower) plot finally put out a profusion of flowers after three years. Many finches, hummers, bees, hummer moths and others are enjoying the bounty. Plans for 2010 include extensive planting of warm season (prairie) grasses hopefully to attract grassland  bird species that have all but disappeared from this area, more forbs and of course continued control of non native, invasive plants. Interestingly, we have YSU grad students requesting to use the sanctuary as a site for their studies this year. Sightings and evidence of otter, mink, coyote, many odonata and countless other non avian species abound in this varied habitat, also. 
  
I'm changing the public access procedure for the sanctuary starting today. As I've  posted every year, anyone could show up at 9 on Sunday morning for a bird walk with one of the guides. Until further notice, however, anyone interested will have to email or call me or one of my three intrepid, all-weather observers to make arrangements to visit. In order of their driving distances from the sanctuary:
 
Jeff Harvey  330 360-1683  [log in to unmask]
Jim Dolan  330 831-1744   [log in to unmask]  
Bob/Denise Lane  216 276-7782  [log in to unmask]
 
Good birding,
Bill Jones
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