Greetings:

Sorry for the late report, but I haven't had email access until this morning. On Saturday, Bill Whan, Brad Sparks, Paul Gardner and I went to the Wilds in Muskingum County Saturday morning in search of winter raptors.  Skies were overcast, with a light wind and temps in the low 40s.  Raptor numbers were very low in comparison to most other times I've been here. We arrived at the Wilds at 7:30 am and left about 11 am. Raptor activity was pretty light, although we did get to see the Golden Eagle as it flew off over a ridge. We had 2 Rough-legged Hawks (one of each flavor), about 5 Red-tailed Hawks (all but one were adults), 4 kestrels (2 of each sex, and they appeared to be adults), and 3 harriers (which were females, but of uncertain age).  We also saw about 250 Canada Geese and 10 Mallards, along with about half a dozen of the resident Trumpeter Swans. Other birds included red-bellied woodpecker, titmice, crows, bluebirds and house sparrows. No Short-eared Owls or grassland dickey-birds were observed.

After the Wilds, we stopped at Putnam's Landing in Zanesville and picked out some Black Ducks and a Redhead from the horde of Canada Geese, Mallards, and domestic waterfowl.

We ended the day at Pickerington Ponds, which is attracting large numbers of waterfowl as the water opens up. We did not relocate the Cackling Goose of Friday in the thousands of Canada Geese present. Mallards were quite numerous as well, in the hundreds, and there were over 50 Black Ducks as well. Other ducks included five Gadwall and two male pintails. We had two male harriers here, one just molting into adult plumage. Most interesting were the spring peepers calling and the wooly bear caterpillar we saw - both were firsts for January for me!

Good birding,
Andy Sewell
Columbus, Ohio

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