The Mountwood Bird Club of Parkersburg, WV had a great trip to Killdeer Plains last Thursday afternoon and Friday. The weather was good and the birds cooperated. The ground was snow-covered which made it easy to spot the small birds in the fields and drove many of them to the edge of the roads. We found four Long-eared Owls, the Northern Shrike, many Rough-legged Hawks (light and dark phase) and Northern Harriers and five Bald Eagles. The Short-eared Owls came out at dusk. We even saw one catch its prey and then do battle with a Harrier as it tried to steel the prey. We also found a Red-headed Woodpecker. The ponds were all frozen over so there was no duck around. In the area around CR 112 north of Upper Sandusky there were lots of Snow Buntings and Horned Larks -- along the roads, in the fields and flying -- and some Lapland Longspurs Probably our best year yet for Snow Buntings. Here is our list for the Killdeer Plains area: Canada Goose Trumpeter Swan Wild Turkey Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Coopers Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk American Kestrel Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Long-eared Owl Short-eared Owl Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Northern Shrike Blue Jay American Crow Horned Lark Chickadee species Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Brown Creeper Carolina Wren Ruby-crowned Kinglet American Robin Northern Mockingbird European Starling American Tree Sparrow Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Lapland Longspur Snow Bunting Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark House Sparrow For the record, we also visited Big Island WA. Lots of Harriers there. We also stopped at the egg farm area near Johnstown, OH. where we saw Horned Larks and Snow Buntings. We stopped at Alum Creek and Hoover Reservoirs. We did find some waterfowl there: Tundra Swan American Wigeon American Black Duck Mallard Northern Shoveler Canvasback Lesser Scaup Common Goldeneye Hooded Merganser Common Merganser Great Blue Heron Dick & Jeanette Esker Wood County West Virginia [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]