Again this year there is a very substantial concentration of horned larks and snow buntings in the Ragersville area.  Last year while conducting a river otter survey on a nearby stream I happened upon a flock of approximately 600 snow buntings at this site.  Today I was again in that area for the same purpose and made a point of looking for the birds as well.  I found more horned larks there today but there were some snow buntings mixed in and I also spotted 3 lapland longspurs (although there were surely a few more around).  I would estimate the entire flock to be 400 birds at minimum however today they were very spread out and on the move due to disturbance from farm equipment.  A rather large local dairy farm was busy spreading manure on these fields.  Two tractors were trading time in the fields probably most of the morning and the birds, although attracted to the "food", were kept moving.  The specific fields are bordered by Ragersville Road, Specht Road, and Crooked Run Road just east-northeast of the town of Ragersville (DeLorme 61A6).  
 
Dan Kramer
Dover

______________________________________________________________________

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]