Sorry for the delayed report.  After 4.5 days of birding in Southwestern Ohio, my January list is 87 species at the end of Sunday, 01/09/11.  I started Sunday at 81.

Sunday, 01/09/11, I started late and birded only in the afternoon starting at the quarry in Melvin.  I arrived at abut 2:30 pm and found Shane Eggleston already there for about 20 minutes.  Shane had one Cackling Goose and Snow Geese before I arrived.  Several Snow Geese, both white and blue phase, were visible.  After scanning several times, I found one Cackling Goose with its head up, un-tucked, and a second bird next to it.  We looked hard for the Ross's Geese and the Greater White-fronted Geese, reported previously, but had no luck.  Later Rick Asamoto and a van load of other birders arrived.  Twice a small flock of Canada Geese flew in with two Cackling Geese in each flock, so the largest count of Cackling Geese is possibly 6, but I am not absolutely certain about that count.  We could have seen the same two Cackling Geese three different times.  When the first flock landed, the two Cackling Geese disappeared, and I could no longer find the first two Cackling Geese that I saw on the ice.  We continued to scan.  Sometime after 4:00 Shane found one Greater White-fronted Goose in the water behind the ice.  I also quickly found it, but then it immediately took off with a small group of Canada Geese.  All the geese started to leave between 4:00 and 4:30 pm.  I counted 12 Snow Geese (6 white and blue phase).  Of note, there are three quite large white domestic barnyard geese also present!  We left at 4:30.  No Ross's Geese in the two hours that I was present.

On the way to I71, P, a Northern Harrier (male gray ghost) flew across Rt. 72 in front of me.  I stopped at Caesar Creek SP to look for a Hermit Thrush that Rick Asamoto had found earlier in the day.  I parked at the small gravel boat and canoe boat lunching area on the right before the North Boat Ramp parking lot to try for the Hermit Thrush in the woods and bushes along the road.  As I walked away from my van, I heard a Killdeer calling and looked up to see a Killdeer flying over.  A Hermit Thrush as well as White-throated Sparrows and northern Cardinals answered my 'spishing.'  When I left the gravel parking area, the Killdeer was sitting on the ice.  Hope that it survives, because the lake was almost completely frozen, but was unfrozen on Saturday, 01/08/11.  Sunday I added 6 new species for January:  Cackling Goose, Snow Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, Northern Harrier, Killdeer and Hermit Thrush.
Jay

Jay G. Lehman
Cincinnati, OH
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