I headed back to the Deer Creek Wildlife Area again today, starting at the SE fork of the southern wetlands where a LeCONTE'S SPARROW was seen (finally!). This is the third consecutive year that both LeConte's and Nelson's Sparrows have made an appearance along that SE fork. The bird was on the east side of the fork up a ways at the first large clump of willows. The bird was first seen after a spish aroused the curiosity of the many sparrows (mostly Swamps)in the willow thicket to pop out. I watched the LeConte's for a while as it moved around in the grass, cattails, and willows. It was last seen diving into the long grass east of there where it became impossible to relocate. Also in that area today were many Swamp Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows, 2 Sedge Wrens, 1 Marsh Wren, and a Common Yellowthroat.

In the afternoon I also checked out the west side of the SW fork. It was less birdy in general, but a NELSON'S SPARROW was seen just south of the "confluence" if you can call it that.

The middle wetland tract was loaded with shorebirds again after nearly a month of not seeing much there. Shorebirds seen there today included :

~100 Killdeers (not counted)
87 Dunlins (counted!)
4 Pectoral Sandpipers
4 Least Sandpipers
2 Western Sandpipers

On the other hand the northern part of the reservoir had a dramatic reduction in the number and variety of shorebirds in the past few days with many obviously going that middle wetland pond. Most of the birds were south of the Osprey nest platform. Shorebirds there today included :

~60 Killdeers
2 Semipalmated Plovers
10 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Western Sandpiper

Gulls were again limited to the 3 expected species. Besides the state park beach, there is also a larger roosting gull flock on the west side of the reservoir near the marina that should be scoped out on every visit if possible.

I would have hoped by now that most people here know where I'm talking about. I get a lot of private emails from people telling me their success in finding the Ammodramus sparrows. I run into a a lot of birders there who seem to be in the right place (mostly Cincinnati people I should add). Then I see reports from someone yesterday saying that they couldn't find Nelson's Sparrows in the state park. Yikes! I have never seen one in the state park either. On my website I have what I believe is the most thorough and detailed birding guide to one site in Ohio available anywhere. I wrote it 3 years ago, but I update it seasonally, and yesterday added a map with the best spot to find Nelson's and LeConte's Sparrows circled in orange. I hope it ends any more confusion. Here is the link again :

http://www.roysephotos.com/DeerCreek.html

Bob Royse

Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com

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