Pat Hayes and I conducted the Kelleys Island monthly census today. Much of it was during very heavy rains but numbers proved to be close to normal for an August census. This is the 10th year for the August census. The 10 year average number of species for August is 64.4 so we were a little below that today but not bad considering the weather. Our total individuals were 4228 which is above the 10 year average of 3234.7. Pectoral Sandpiper was observed for the first time on an August census today. However, the highlight of the day was 4 Little Gulls, 2 adults still in mostly breeding plumage and 2 juvenile still in very young plumage. These birds can't be more than a few weeks off the nest. Both juveniles showed very dark markings on the back and head. The "W" marking of the back and wings could be seen but calling it a "W" is a stretch for me. I am not sure what I would call the pattern but I guess "W" is close. It was similar to that of a juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake but the head and back were much darker. All four birds were observed flying together in a large group of Bonaparte's Gulls at the state park beach. We also had several juvenile Bonaparte's in similar age plumage but very warm brown coloring compared to that of the juvenile Little Gulls. 63 Double-crested Cormorant 13 Great Blue Heron 187 Canada Goose 46 Mallard 7 Turkey Vulture 1 Cooper's Hawk 14 Killdeer 4 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper 2 Least Sandpiper 1 Pectoral Sandpiper 4 Little Gull 1085 Bonaparte's Gull 612 Ring-billed Gull 389 Herring Gull 13 Caspian Tern 16 Common Tern 7 Forster's Tern 5 Mourning Dove 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2 Eastern Screech-Owl 3 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 Belted Kingfisher 4 Downy Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 Eastern Phoebe 1 Great Crested Flycatcher 23 Eastern Kingbird 2 Warbling Vireo 1 Red-eyed Vireo 6 Blue Jay 8 American Crow 293 Purple Martin 259 Tree Swallow 19 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 47 Bank Swallow 559 Barn Swallow 19 Black-capped Chickadee 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch 2 Carolina Wren 4 House Wren 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 14 American Robin 111 European Starling 62 Cedar Waxwing 17 Yellow Warbler 1 American Redstart 1 Northern Waterthrush 2 Common Yellowthroat 68 Northern Cardinal 1 Indigo Bunting 15 Chipping Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 1 Swamp Sparrow 13 Red-winged Blackbird 98 Common Grackle 8 Brown-headed Cowbird 2 Baltimore Oriole 13 House Finch 28 American Goldfinch 42 House Sparrow 62 Total species 4228 Total individuals 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]