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January 2017

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From:
Joseph Boros <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Joseph Boros <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 22:07:24 -0500
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Well I live around Amish country and I had a male Northern Bobwhite walk
past my front door this summer!  I don't know much about the expected bird
species in the Columbus area, but I'd say there are certainly lots of
"hedgerow" birds around here.  Definitely not as many as back then, but
still decent numbers.

Have you come across any records of now rare or extirpated species like
Loggerhead Shrike, Bewick's Wren, or Bachman's Sparrow?  It always
fascinated me that those birds used to occur in Ohio...

Joseph Boros,
Holmes County

On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 8:26 PM, rob thorn <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> As the current compiler for Columbus, I was struck by several features of
> this old count.  These were great observers, so the totals are probably
> what a good team could have expected to get if they had the run of the
> entire circle.  Many have already noted about the Red-headed Woodpeckers,
> so I won't belabor .
> that difference other than to put it in the context of land changes.  My
> observations include:
>
> -Large #s of 'hedgerow birds':  Bobwhites, Red-headed Woodpeckers,
> Mourning Doves, Tree Sparrows, Juncos, Cardinals.  Much of Columbus'
> periphery then was made up of small farms, with large hedgerows of trees &
> bushes separating fields, not unlike some of the Amish areas today.  That's
> been totally changed, first by farm amalgamation, then by suburbanization.
>
> -Small #s of feeder birds: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker,
> Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-br.Nuthatch, Goldfinch.   Some
> of these are forest birds that were restricted by the heavy deforestation
> of the period; today they're all boosted strongly by feeders in urban &
> suburban areas here.
>
> -Missing species - No waterfowl, White-throated Sparrows, or House
> Sparrows.   Without knowing their route, it's hard to say what these misses
> mean; perhaps they didn't wish to count the imported Sparrows.  The lack of
> waterfowl probably means they had little or no open water, not to mention
> that extensive hunting probably made ducks wary back then.
>
> -High Bluebirds & Kinglets - For a single team to see 13 Bluebirds or
> Kinglets would be fairly extraordinary today.  I don't know what habitats
> they visited to secure them, but it's good to see that Bluebirds were
> fairly abundant winter residents back then, even on cold days.
>
> Rob Thorn
>
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