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January 2010

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From:
Robert Royse <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Robert Royse <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 2 Jan 2010 16:43:06 -0800
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I got out at a leisurely 9:00 this morning and headed down Rt. 23 south from Columbus where I visited several locations that have been fruitful in racking up many expected species on previous Januarys.

The first stop was Stage's Pond in Pickaway County where I spent almost 2 hours covering every trail expecting to find a good assortment of sparrows. It was very cold and windy and few birds were to be found in the fields. After similar windy conditions at Deer Creek yesterday, I pretty much concluded that a good rule of thumb to follow when looking for sparrows in Pickaway County is to just not bother when the wind speed is greater than the temperature. In the wooded area where it was more sheltered from the wind the only new bird of note I picked up was Yellow-rumped Warbler. They're reliable there in the winter. There are some sparrow species that I used think were reliable too.

As I was about to leave Pickaway County, I drove the Charlie's Pond/Pickaway County Airport loop. The sun popped out and drove the temperature up to a blistering 21 degrees while the wind died down to a serene 20 mph. Only then did I find a Swamp Sparrow to add onto my year list at Charlie's Pond.

I spent most of the afternoon at Scioto Trail State Forest driving around and walking along various bridle paths along the creeks. I was expecting a lot, but it was very quiet, cold, and windy. Last January I saw most of the expected half-hardy birds there easily and a trip later in the month to Shawnee added no more birds to my list. This year I will definitely need a trip further south. The only new bird I picked up in 3 hours at STSF was Eastern Bluebird, and the only other new species I added in Ross County was with some Wild Turkeys feeding in a cornfield near a woodlot edge along Rt. 23 just N of Chillicothe.

I left the southern side of the state forest and continued 5 minutes further south to Lake White (Pike County) where the waterfowl numbers were overwhelming. In addition to the thousands in the lake itself there were always hundreds in the air coming and going. Canada Geese and Mallards dominated the numbers, but there was still good variety. Here's what I saw with about 45 min. of scoping from every vantage point I could find :

Snow Goose - 3 (2 white, 1 blue)
Canada Goose - thousands
Cackling Goose - 5
Gadwall - ~20
Am Black Duck - hundreds
Mallards - thousands
N Pintail - several
Canvasback - 13
Redhead - several
Ring-necked Duck - about a half dozen
Lesser Scaup - several
Bufflehead - several
Hooded Merganser - ~15
Ruddy Duck ~20

The Cackling Geese stuck out from the crowd and stayed close to each other the whole time I was there. I wasn't even looking for them, but their short stubby bills and short necks couldn't have made them more obvious if they were flashing bright red lights off the top of their heads. I saw them first from a distance and when I got closer a Canada Goose swam right by for an easy comparison. 

As I said, there was an incredible number of waterfowl coming and going there, so anything could turn up. I hope to get to Shawnee in the next few days, and I will definitely spend time at Lake White on both the way there and way back.

Bob Royse
http://www.roysephotos.com/2010listJAN.html



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


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