I headed back to the Deer Creek area today partially to look for the Fayette County Snowy Owl that Jim McCormac reported yesterday. I didn't see it. Hopefully it ate that rabbit and moved on to somewhere with less traffic nearby. I took back roads from Deer Creek to Washington CH and back finding many Horned Larks with most of the larger flocks in the company of a Lapland Longspur or two. The largest numbers of longspurs I saw were along Miller Road west of the state wildlife area and just south of Pancoastburg. That one road had a flock of 10, another with about 20, and several other individuals as well. If you take a quick loop on Miller Road, head N then back on Roth Road you should probably find some easily. That same loop in another 2 months should also give you your first Vesper Sparrows of the year. I saw no Snow Buntings at all anywhere today.

One bird that I did see today that I haven't seen in a while was Savannah Sparrow. I saw at least 4 different ones. Two were associating with large sparrow flocks mixing with Songs and Trees in the state wildlife area. Two others were in with the lark/longspur flocks. Apparently it took a good snowfall to flush them out of hiding in the grasses. While the reservoir itself was mostly iced over, most of the ducks seen on the 1st were still present. The huge gull flocks seemed to have moved elsewhere for now though.

Bob Royse

Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com

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