Sandy Tkach and I conducted the 11th February KI census yesterday and it was the best to date. Monthly census route has been run every month since 1998 with the exception of 2000 when I was unable to get to the island and no one was on the island to do it. The February average had been 39 species with a high of 46 in 2002 and a low of 29 in 2003. This year we had 49 species with an addition 2 species not observed on the route. The average number of individuals has been 4542 but this year we had 8166 (3rd highest). Three new species were added to the February list. They were Long-tailed Duck, Tufted Titmouse, and Fox Sparrow. In addition, four species were observed for only the second time in February. They were Hairy Woodpecker (1998), Cedar Waxwing (2002), Snow Bunting (1998), and Purple Finch (2006). The February list now stands at 79 species. Weather was overcast with limited visibility (fog). Winds SE then NE 5-10 mph. Temperature was 40-46 degrees. Very mild for a February count. Ice is breaking up on the lake. 43 Canada Goose 1 American Black Duck 9 Mallard 29 Redhead 71 Greater Scaup 3 Lesser Scaup 1 Long-tailed Duck 5 Bufflehead 6825 Common Goldeneye 68 Common Merganser 291 Red-breasted Merganser 11 Bald Eagle (6 adults, 5 immature) 1 Cooper's Hawk 5 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Killdeer 7 Ring-billed Gull 151 Herring Gull 7 Great Black-backed Gull 1 Eastern Screech-Owl 1 Great Horned Owl 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker 21 Downy Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 5 Blue Jay 47 American Crow 7 Horned Lark 81 Black-capped Chickadee 1 Tufted Titmouse 2 Brown Creeper 2 Carolina Wren 8 Golden-crowned Kinglet 4 Hermit Thrush 88 American Robin 51 European Starling 2 Cedar Waxwing 20 Yellow-rumped Warbler 55 Northern Cardinal * American Tree Sparrow 1 Fox Sparrow 3 Song Sparrow 12 White-throated Sparrow 38 Dark-eyed Junco 9 Snow Bunting 67 Red-winged Blackbird 21 Common Grackle 2 Purple Finch 53 House Finch * Pine Siskin 2 American Goldfinch 28 House Sparrow 49 species 8166 individuals New February average number of species per route is 40 and new average number of individuals per route is 4872. -- H. Thomas 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]