I have been extremely busy at work and did not post my updated results.  This will be a summary.  My January List was 102 at the end of last weekend.

At the end of Day 5 on Sunday 01/17/10, my list was 93 species.  Highlights included Northern Shrike and Long-eared Owls at Killdeer Plains WA on Sunday 01/17.  The Northern Shrike was along CH 68 (Wyandot Marion Road in Map Quest) east of the ponds but west of Washburn Road.  I found the bird at 12:30 pm just east of the last Pond 27 pull off on the north side of Wyandot Marion Road.  It flew out of a hawthorn tree south into the Wetland Restoration Area, and was last seen perching in the lone pine tree along this road at the west edge of the restoration area.  It was seen later by a group of birders from Dayton.  The two Long-eared Owls were in the spruce wind break on the east side of the driveway into the red barn located east of the parking lot for the owl grove along CH 75.  One was posing in the open for easy photography.

Last weekend at the end of Day 7, Sunday, 01/24/10, my list was 102 species.

On Saturday, 01/23/10, I added Peregrine Falcon at an unlikely location along I-71 just north of Exit 65 and the Prime Outlets-Jeffersonville.  This was in the afternoon about 3:30 pm.  It was perched on a power pole and flew across I-71 to the west in front of me.  I was so startled to see a peregrine in this area that I almost stopped on the interstate!  Fortunately, there was not too much traffic right then.  Later, I added Black-crowned Night Heron along the Olentangy River just north of the bridge across the river on West Lane Avenue at The Ohio State University.  There were at least three birds still visible in the deepening gloom at about 6:00 pm.

On Sunday, John Habig and I drove north to the Toledo area to the Maumee River to Otsego Park and Grand Rapids/Providence Dam to look for the wintering gulls reported there.  At Otsego Park we found one adult Iceland Gull and one winter plumage Lesser Black-backed Gull.  Up river at the ODNR Boat Ramp we found an adult plumage Glaucous Gull on an island out in the river.  There were thousands of gulls, mostly Herring and Ring-billed Gulls, spread out in flocks on the ice from Otsego Park to Grand Rapids.  We stopped several places to scan the gulls.  At Providence dam we found another Glaucous Gull, this time a second winter bird.  We stopped at Oak Openings to watch the feeders at the nature center and found one new bird for me, Red-breasted Nuthatch.  This bird made a very brief visit and then headed back to the pines.  Next we stopped at Bayshore Power Plant, where we added an immature Great Black-backed Gull, and John added Black-crowned Night Heron (BCNH).  We saw at least 12 BCNH.  We worked our way east toward Maumee Bay SP from the power plant scanning the open water near the shore.  There are lots of waterfowl, but nothing new for the month.  We stopped briefly at the beach at Maumee Bay SP but continued east to the Ottawa NWR area hoping for flocks of swans and geese.  All the accessible water by quick drive-by was frozen in the Ottawa- Magee march Area.  We headed back west via Stange Road where we saw at least 6 swans flying (not like the Twelve Days of Christmas song-'a swimming') but were not sure of an ID.  We drove out the causeway at Metzger Marsh and found a flock of about 200 swans on the ice and in a patch of open water near the dike.  We could hear the distinctive calls of Tundra Swans (high pitched whoo-ooo) as well as a few of Trumpeter Swans (sounds like a car horn).  Through the scope we were able to identify at least three Trumpeter Swans and most of the rest appeared to be Tundra Swans, but this is not an exact estimate.  As the sun was setting, we headed back west to Maumee Bay SP to look for owls.  We found one gray phase Eastern Screech Owl looking out of a wood duck box east of the Nature Center, which made my list for January 102.
Jay

Jay G. Lehman
Cincinnati, OH
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