Today on the boardwalk around dawn I heard a Northern Saw-whet Owl calling from the east end area (my first ever). Kim Kaufman found a Saw-whet Owl pellet under one of our Red Cedar trees 2 days ago at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. So these little owls are still coming through the marsh people. Keep checking all the thickets and evergreen trees. Dan & Barb Myers had 2 Golden Eagles, an Osprey, a Merlin, about 9 American Kestrels, one Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawks, Coopers and Sharp-shinned Hawks from the observation tower near the bird center yesterday to mention a few. I had a Northern Harrier in the marsh today along with several Bald Eagles. Three young eagles were chasing each other and all the ducks around for fun it seemed. There were lots of ducks this morning in the marsh and on the small pond at the boardwalk. Canada Geese, Wood Ducks, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Blue-winged & Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, American Coots, and Hooded Mergansers. Killdeer were flying all-over the place. Benton Carroll Road (Ottawa NWR property) and the diked-in marsh still had several pairs of Northern Pintail, American Black Ducks, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal. Still present were a few yellowlegs. Tree Swallows were in good numbers on the boardwalk, but only in the south areas, deep in the shrubs where they were out of the cold wind. Brown Creepers, Winter Wrens, Golden-crowned Kinglets, American Robins, Fox and Tree Sparrows, Red-winged and Rusty Blackbirds were in good numbers as were Common Grackles. One male Purple Finch braved the cold and wind while singing by his favorite White Ash Tree. Love those Canoe paddle-shaped seeds. Several Northern Flickers and Downy Woodpeckers were also calling in the cold wind. The gravel walking trail near the observation tower (by the Sportsman's Migratory Bird Center) had lots of singing Fox Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers. One Blue jay was actually fly-catching from branch to branch. After looking closer, he was eating those large midge flies that hatch-out in springtime. These guys were sitting on the thin branches and as the Blue jay jumped, they flew and he caught them in mid air. It was really funny to watch this large bird fly-catch on such thin branches of a small maple tree. Food is getting scarce and when most of the berries, nuts, and seeds are gone, they eat whatever they can. Hugh and Judy Rose have Barn Swallows on their property now. They live just past Route 19 off of Route 2 only a few of miles from Magee Marsh. They had Red-winged Blackbirds fly-catching yesterday too. The Window on Wildlife at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory had several White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows this morning. That's all for now, Christopher J. Knoll Education Director Black Swamp Bird Observatory 13551 West State Route 2 Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449 Website: www.bsbobird.org Phone: 419-898-4070 Fax: 419-898-1363 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]