Sandy Tkach and I conducted the monthly census on Kelleys Island today. Although it was beautiful with the light snow (12+ inches on the ground), overcast to partly cloudy, and upper 20's; it was very slow with birds. This was the third lowest species count in 13 years. Only January 2003 with 28 species and February 2003 with 29 species were lower. We only recorded 32 species and 874 individuals. This was only the second count ever to have fewer than 1000 individuals. September 1998 recorded only 862 individuals. The normal February count has 39 species and 4822 individuals. The island was mostly iced in so finding ducks and gulls was tough. Just yesterday there was lots of open water to the south and east but not today. The only unusual species was a pair of Eastern Bluebirds record for only the second February count in 13 years. More noteworthy was what we didn't see. Nine species which are normally observed in February were missing. Those were Canada Goose, Mallard, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-tailed Hawk, Ring-billed Gull, Blue Jay, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Song Sparrow, and Red-winged Blackbird. Greater Scaup - 12 Bufflehead - 1 Common Goldeneye - 153 Common Merganser -117 Wild Turkey -* Bald Eagle - 10(6 ad, 2 imm, 2 ?) Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 Herring Gull - 95 Great Black-backed Gull -4 Mourning Dove -* Eastern Screech-Owl 1 Great Horned Owl -1 Red-bellied Woodpecker -2 Downy Woodpecker - 31 Northern Flicker -4 American Crow -34 Horned Lark -4 Black-capped Chickadee -48 White-breasted Nuthatch -5 Brown Creeper -5 Carolina Wren -8 Eastern Bluebird -2 Hermit Thrush -5 American Robin -96 European Starling -40 Cedar Waxwing -2 Yellow-rumped Warbler -11 American Tree Sparrow -9 White-throated Sparrow -2 Dark-eyed Junco -4 Northern Cardinal -66 House Finch -32 American Goldfinch - 13 House Sparrow -56 32 species 874 individuals * = species observed on the island today but not on the census route -- 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]