(For those who prefer the short version, at the end of this account there
is a list of the 46 species I personally saw 12-15-12.)
I spent a remarkable day yesterday with new friends. I had a delightful
time participating in the Buckeye Lake CBC, and I would like to thank
Jeffrey White for organizing and compiling the results of this effort. I am
sure he will have further details at some point (It must be quite a task!)
but I will share some of my experience, and my own sightings.
I had the remarkable good fortune of being “assigned” to a car driven by
Steve Williams and occupied by his partner for the CBC, Mitch Lynd. Mitch
is a six-generation fruit grower, well-known in Licking County and the
surrounding area, and a veritable fountain of birding knowledge, local
geographical competency, and historical anecdotes. He was our “guide” and
“secretary” for this CBC effort, directing us to a myriad of pre-scouted
hotspots and locations, and navigating the maze of residential development
and associated waterfront access points along the north shore of Buckeye
Lake. There were not really enough participants for this CBC (Can there
ever be enough for such endeavors?) so we covered a large and wide
east-west swath across the 15-mile diameter circle from the morning feeder
birds in the Loan Oak sub-development in Amsterdam (SE Licking County,) to
the mid-day survey around the north shore of the lake, to the afternoon
visit to the Hebron Fish Hatchery and transects around the rural till
plains in the western sector of the circle.
Aside from a snipe, we found nothing that was truly startling. (List
follows the account.) But there were a few notable delights. You know, a
good day birding!
Three mockingbirds around the crabapples and similar fruits in the eastern
sub-developments were sort of noteworthy.
The loon at the lake was “voice only” but unmistakable. As we were leaving
one of the shoreline access points we heard it and remarked almost in
unison, “Hear that? A loon, isn’t it?” The bird obliged us with a second
confirming cry.
While watching a small skein of Canada geese snake along the sky above the
lake, I noticed that the next to last goose of the dozen or so birds
appeared smallish. Fixing my binoculars on it, I saw that it was a single
white-phase snow goose flying with this flock.
Alex, Mitch’s grandson had gone ahead of us directly to the Hebron Fish
Hatchery after another obligation earlier in the morning, and he called
Mitch’s cellphone to report a very long-billed shorebird. He also announced
that a snow goose had just flown in with a flock of a dozen Canada geese, a
half hour after we saw them headed that way.
We suspected a snipe, and sure enough, when we joined Alex and walked the
dikes around the ponds, the same single bird flushed from the marsh-grassy
bottom of one of the drained impoundments, and fluttered characteristically
and erratically away. For me, this recalled a time in late January about
ten years ago when I saw a similar snipe-woodcocky avian flutter across
nearby I-70 in front of my car on a gray late-January afternoon. At the
time, I thought that bird might be a very early woodcock, but now I think
it is more likely that it was a snipe. Funny how what goes around comes
around, and life is for learning.
At the southern edge of the hatchery property we spotted a great-horned owl
perched along the back margin of the woods. Blue jays noisily announced its
presence, but the owl seemed unconcerned.
We actually saw a snipe and a horned owl before we saw our day’s first
red-tailed hawk! Hawks in general were rather scarce, with only two
red-shoulders, only two kestrels (where they should be common) and a
hand-full of red-tails.
Alex saw large numbers of brown creepers in the woods south of the
hatchery, along with other of the woodland parid complex, but by the time
we joined him there inactivity among the “dickey birds” had set in. We
thought perhaps the owl’s presence and the gray conditions of the impending
light drizzle had suppressed the action.
Half-expected noteworthy misses: cedar waxwing, duck species other than
just the few seen, northern harrier, hairy woodpecker, blackbirds(!),
horned lark, towhee, white-crowned sparrow, tree sparrow.
My own list for the day: (46 species)
Common loon
Horned grebe
Pied-billed grebe
Great blue heron
Mute swan
Canada goose
Snow goose
Mallard
Northern shoveler
Ring-necked duck
Ruddy duck
Cooper’s hawk
Red-shouldered hawk
Red-tailed hawk
American kestrel
American coot
Wilson’s snipe
Ring-billed gull
Herring gull
Mourning dove
Rock pigeon
Great horned owl
Belted kingfisher
Red-bellied woodpecker
Downy woodpecker
Northern flicker
Pileated woodpecker
Blue jay
American crow
Tufted titmouse
Carolina chickadee
Red-breasted nuthatch
White-breasted nuthatch
Carolina wren
Eastern bluebird
American robin
Northern mockingbird
European starling
Northern cardinal
White-throated sparrow
Song sparrow
Dark-eyed junco
House finch
Pine siskin
American goldfinch
House sparrow
---
Bob Evans
Geologist, etc.
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County
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