Monday, March 26, 2007 Sandy Tkach and I conducted the Kelleys Island monthly census. This is the first day the ferry to the island has run since late January, so this is why the census is about a week later than normal. But the wait was worth it. What a day for birding. Wind was out of the SW-W at 10-20 mph, partly cloudy and temperature in the high 60's low 70's. Birds were singing everywhere and raptors were moving. It must have been a great day on the hawk tower at Crane Creek. We had 44 raptors of 8 species just on the census route. The March count has averaged 53 species over the last nine years with a previous high of 62 species (2005). Today we had 74 species which now moves the average to 55 species for a March count. The only new species added to the March count list was Gadwall. 98 species have been observed on March counts over the last 10 years. 20 Horned Grebe 38 Double-crested Cormorant 7 Great Blue Heron 97 Canada Goose 3 Wood Duck 2 Gadwall 3 American Black Duck 55 Mallard 1 Mallard X Am. Black Duck 141 Redhead 6 Ring-necked Duck 4 Greater Scaup 119 Lesser Scaup 272 Bufflehead 905 Common Goldeneye 8 Hooded Merganser 11 Common Merganser 626 Red-breasted Merganser 20 Turkey Vulture 4 Bald Eagle 4 Northern Harrier 8 Sharp-shinned Hawk 9 Cooper's Hawk 13 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 Red-tailed Hawk 2 Rough-legged Hawk 1 American Kestrel 2 American Coot 22 Killdeer 1 American Woodcock 3 Bonaparte's Gull 23 Ring-billed Gull 302 Herring Gull 24 Great Black-backed Gull 10 Mourning Dove 1 Eastern Screech-Owl 3 Belted Kingfisher 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 3 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 17 Downy Woodpecker 32 Northern Flicker 10 Eastern Phoebe 1 Blue Jay 57 American Crow 9 Horned Lark 66 Tree Swallow 44 Black-capped Chickadee 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 17 Brown Creeper 4 Carolina Wren 1 Winter Wren 119 Golden-crowned Kinglet 9 Eastern Bluebird 1 Hermit Thrush 688 American Robin 2 Brown Thrasher 206 European Starling 4 American Pipit 4 Yellow-rumped Warbler 38 Northern Cardinal 3 Eastern Towhee 2 American Tree Sparrow 8 Fox Sparrow 20 Song Sparrow 4 White-throated Sparrow 108 Dark-eyed Junco 45 Lapland Longspur 1133 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Eastern Meadolark 13 Rusty Blackbird 1872 Common Grackle 32 Brown-headed Cowbird 147 House Finch 4 American Goldfinch 63 House Sparrow 7545 Total individuals 74 Species plus one hybrid Tom Bartlett Tiffin, Ohio [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]