I headed back to Deer Creek again today. No Ammodramus Sparrows were seen in the windy overcast weather, but there were a lot of other birds to be found.

One of the biggest concentrations of sparrows I've ever seen were in the middle wetland tract in the dense wall of smallweeds that covers the whole eastern side. That pond dried up earlier than usual this year shortly after the Buff-breasted Sandpipers showed up in August and there hasn't been any standing water since. When the smaetweeds first appeared in was an impenetrable thicket, but now enough vegetation has fallen that you can work you way back. Along the grassy western edges Savannah Sparrows are most numerous, but as you work your way in Song, Swamp, White-crowned, and Lincoln's become abundant. Field Sparrows were also in there in smaller numbers. Only those 6 species were seen, but easily they totaled over a thousand birds.

In the northern part of the state wildlife area there were also large sparrow flocks, especially concentrated in aster thickets. D-51, D-52, and D-57 are all productive roads now to see a lot of sparrows. Field Sparrows are in a higher concentration in those areas and most of the bigger flocks had a Fox Sparrow or two in their company. In the asters at the end of D-57 there was an Orange-crowned Warbler today. I saw one in the same area a couple of weeks ago also.

The shorebird tally in the N wetlands along Dick Road today was:

Killdeers (lots)
17 G Yellowlegs
8 L Yellowlegs
1 Least Sandpiper
11 Pectoral Sandpiper
2 Dunlins
1 Wilson's Snipe

A nice group of 8 Great Egrets also remain there.

At the N end of the reservoir those same 7 shorebird species were present with some differences in numbers. Killdeers were present in triple digits. Both yellowlegs were seen only in the morning. The other totals were 1 Least, 2 Pectoral, ~15 Dunlins, 2 W.Snipes.

Last but not least,the reservoir itself. There was a huge influx of Bonaparte's Gulls in the past few days with several hundred now in southern part. From the area I could scope out I saw at least a dozen Common Loons, and perhaps twice that many Pied-billed Grebes. D-c Cormorants were widespread with one conspicuous raft of 90 birds. At least 3 Bald Eagles of different ages were also patrolling the reservoir. It would have been nice to be able to scope out the whole reservoir today including from the bluffs at the picnic sites. I did speak to the guy in charge of the road closures in the state park office today. He was actually very nice and wants to be able to accommodate birders. Apparently there has been too much vandalism to the buildings along D-5 in the picnic areas. Pipes have been ripped out for example. On top of that people have been dumping their trash in there. He said that he could possibly open the gates for one or two days or half days a week for birders, but they can't just leave it open all the time. They also said with enough notice they could open it to allow a group of birders in there. I consider this a very generous offer from them that I certainly would like to take advantage of. For myself I was going to ask that it be opened on Mondays since that's my only guaranteed day off every week. I suppose most everyone else would rather see a weekend day open. I think that I will request maybe something like Sunday afternoon and Monday mornings that the gate is opened for birders. If there is anyone out there who has any ideas about this I can share with them, please let me know by email. Hopefully something will be worked out with the park staff. Of course anyone is free to walk in there any day, but in the middle of winter with the wind howling through there, I doubt that many people are going to want to carry a scope to the bluffs and back.

Bob Royse


Robert Royse
[log in to unmask]
www.roysephotos.com

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.


You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]