I started the day at Caesar Creek SP at the end of Harveysburg Road arriving at about 9:00 or a little later with 76 species for January.  The high wind and driving snow made visibility very poor.  A few Ring-billed Gulls were visible in the inlet.  I met a fellow birder from Dayton who was walking the road to the point.  We met again at the first parking lot on the left as the road enters the woods heading to the point.  I suggested that we try walking the trail down to the lake edge, which we did.  I didn't take a scope, because the trail looked treacherous, because it was snow covered.  However, we both made it down.  Two Northern Flickers in the woods were nice to see, but not new for me.  We started scanning with binoculars.  The birder from Dayton found two birds together that I at first thought were gulls on the water, but turned into the two Long-tailed Ducks (LTDU)!  Earlier, when I was scanning the gulls, I thought that I saw a LTDU on the water but it disappeared.  I walked back up the hill to get a scope, while the man from Dayton stayed to keep track of the LTDU.  We got quite good views of the LTDU through a scope.  Just before walking back up the hill a large dark young gull showed up that looked like a first year Herring Gull, but it was alone and the size was difficult to judge.  As we watched, it flew close to some obvious Ring-billed Gulls.  Clearly it was a first year Herring Gull.  I stopped by the beach off of Rt. 73.  No gulls or other birds, but first an immature Bald Eagle flew over heading west, soon thereafter followed by an adult Bald Eagle.  I headed to the North Boat ramp to scan for waterfowl, but didn't find anything, but met Laura Keene and her husband and Gail and Brian Wulker.  I headed to Spring Valley to try for the Rusty Blackbirds reported there.  There were two Rusty Blackbirds under the two feeders in the woods to the left of the blind, when I arrived.  There were also about 5 Brown-headed Cowbirds (2 m., 2 f or imm.) and plenty of Tree Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows a few White-crowned Sparrow and a several Song Sparrows.  There were also Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Northern Cardinals, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches and American Goldfinches at the feeders behind the blind and 3-4 Red-winged Blackbirds.  There were more birds at the feeders on Saturday, than on Monday, January 3, due to the cold and snow cover.  A quick stop by the Roxanna gravel pits indicated an occupied hunting blind near the island with all the geese and ducks concentrated near the eastern end of the lake/old gravel pit on the north side of Roxanna-New Burlington Road.  I stopped at the campground boat ramp at Caesar Creek SP, where there were quite a few gulls, mostly Ring-billed Gulls.  The wind was quite fierce making viewing difficult.  I stopped in the vicinity of Fort Ancient and found one Red-headed Woodpecker.  A birder at Armeleder Park had told me that there are quite a few RHWO at Ft, Ancient.   My last stop of the day was Spring Grove Cemetery, where I found two Fox Sparrows with a small flock of Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows.  These birds were feeding opposite Section 118 along a diagonal road that goes north-east from the road with the yellow broken line and beyond the two frozen ponds that are close to this road.  This is just down hill from the woodland area.  The sparrow and junco flock flew out from under a holly tree and a yew bush to feed along the road and close to the bush and tree in a thawed area clear of snow.  There is a low grave stone with the name "Spencer" and a water facet right close by.

Long-tailed Duck, Herring Gull, Rusty Blackbird, Red-headed Woodpecker and Fox Sparrow brought my January total to 81, with all birding in SW Ohio south of the Rt. 72.
Jay

Jay G. Lehman
Cincinnati, OH
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