Today Linda and I took advantage of the good weather and headed north to bird. We first birded at Big Island Wildlife Area in Marion County and then we birded at Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area in Wyandot County. We had a great day tallying 67 species. We did not try for owls as the ground was saturated to the point that a rowboat would be useful. What we didn't see was almost as surprising as what we did during the day - not a single Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, or American Goldfinch. The highlights of the day included an Eared Grebe, Lapland Longspurs in breeding plumage (spectacular), Common Snipe that came up around us like popcorn or finding 1,200 Northern Pintail. I've listed the numbers below for species of interest and indicated the breakdown, B- for Big Island and K- for Killdeer Plains. Common Loon (K-8) Pied-billed Grebe (B-6, K-11) Horned Grebe (B-7, K-5) Eared Grebe (B-1) Great Blue Heron Great Egret (K-3) Turkey Vulture Trumpeter Swan (B-3, K-8) Tundra Swan (K-223) Canada Goose Wood Duck (B-12, K-17) Green-winged Teal (B-12, K-16) American Black Duck (B-8, K-10) Mallard Northern Pintail (B-800+, K-400+) Blue-winged Teal (B-38, K-40) Northern Shoveler (B-127, K-108) Gadwall (B-87, K-66) American Wigeon (B-71, K-45) Canvasback (B-8, K-16) Redhead (B-13, K-23) Ring-necked Duck (B-197, K-103) Lesser Scaup (B-46, K-33) Bufflehead (B-7, K-13) Hooded Merganser (B-6, K-19) Red-breasted Merganser (B-4) Ruddy Duck (B-24, K-11) Osprey (B-4) Bald Eagle (B-1, K-4) Northern Harrier (B-31, K-26) Cooper’s Hawk (K-1) Red-shouldered Hawk (K-1) Broad-winged Hawk (B-1, K-2) Red-tailed Hawk (B-3, K-11) Rough-legged Hawk (B-2, K-8) American Kestrel (B-3, K-13) Northern Bobwhite (K-2) American Coot (B-200+, K-400+) Killdeer (B-2, K-14) Greater Yellowlegs (K-2) Lesser Yellowlegs (K-9) Wilson’s Snipe (K-27) American Woodcock* (K-1, heard only. About 15 feet away but couldn't locate) Ring-billed Gull (B-8, K-5) Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Red-bellied Woodpecker Northern Flicker American Crow Horned Lark (B-2, K-47) Tree Swallow Eastern Bluebird American Robin Northern Mockingbird European Starling Northern Cardinal Eastern Towhee American Tree Sparrow Field Sparrow Song Sparrow Lapland Longspur (K-29, males in breeding plumage) Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark (B-6, K-22) Rusty Blackbird (K-6) Common Grackle House Finch House Sparrow Charlie Bombaci **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001) ______________________________________________________________________ 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]