Hello!

October ushered in hopes to perhaps pick up a few missed species for our Carroll County survey.  This is the best time of year to locate 2 of the most difficult sparrows to see in Ohio, the Nelson’s and LeConte’s Sparrows.  Several efforts were made at Stillfork Swamp, as this is the most promising habitat in the county, but, alas, we did not score either species.  We also had Yellow Rail in mind as a few had been seen across the state, but again twas’ not to be.  We are in what Kent Miller described in our 2014 effort as a “time of diminishing returns”, meaning that the time put into locating new species decreases as the year draws to a close.  I think that in many ways this time is pretty much from June on unless you have great shorebird habitat, which Carroll does not.  Still, there has been no shortage of effort to watch the lakes for new gulls and waterfowl and that will continue right up until December 31.

6 species of warblers were seen during the month.  8 species of sparrows were seen with a high count of 8 Lincoln’s Sparrows at Stillfork during one of our sparrow trips.  The fall/winter species have been moving through as expected.  Several Purple Finches frequented my feeders for a few days, as well as an occasional Red-breasted Nuthatch.  Across the county, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Winter Wrens, White-throated Sparrows, and Brown Creepers have been present.  It appears that the last of the Ospreys to linger at Atwood lake departed several weeks ago during that first nice N-NW blow.  They have been replaced by flocks of Bonaparte’s Gulls, numbering at times in the hundreds.

We are tentatively planning to do a Hawk Watch this Friday 11/4 to look for migrating raptors, as well as Tundra Swans.  As of now, I believe we plan to do it on Fargo Road at the high point near the gas well.  If you would like to come to join the watch, we’d love to see you.  I do not know the hours yet, but we will likely check a few adjacent areas while waiting for the thermals to build as the temperature warms.  I would guess we would be on the hill between 10-11 am.  

As far as the numbers go, I saw 86 species during October.  Our group total remains at 213 species for 2016.  Carroll is ranking as 22nd in species seen in 2016 and 56th (fell one spot this month) in Ohio historically.  1022 eBird lists have been generated in the county so far this year.

That’s the news from Carroll this month.  I hope you are enjoying the wonderful autumn weather and don’t forget to turn your clocks back this coming Saturday night.

Peace!  

Jon Cefus
Carroll Co.  


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