On Sunday, Tom Behlen, Paula Bartlett, and myself conducted the 15th November census. The first November census was conducted November 21, 1997. Time flies! After a week of mostly south-southwest winds, hundreds of Common Loons and and Horned Grebes around the island, we conducted the census in north-northwest winds and many of the loons and grebes had left. But we were in for a pleasant surprise or two. The first two hours of the count were normal, but at around 9:30-10:00 AM we were at the state park on the north side of the island. There were several groups of duck hunters in the bay and off the breakwall which were keeping most of the waterbirds out of the area. Then we heard a strange honking sound. Looking up we observed a flock of 280+ Snow geese. Moments latter, another flock of 80+ flew over. Then as we were working the North Quarry trail, a flock of 150+ flew over. This group was lower and I noticed several small birds in with them. We counted 5 Ross's Geese in the group. There may have been more but they were gone to the southwest. Should have looked at the first groups closer. Ross's Goose is new to the island counts. We later learned that other flocks of Snow Geese had been observed as well. I believe this is my largest count of Snow Geese for Ohio. Have to check Ottawa NWR and Killdeer Plains records. The census ended with 54 species observed and 5311 individuals. The 15 year average of species per count is 54. The 15 year average of individuals per count is 11159 individuals. Our species count is average but our individual count is less than half "normal". Numbers of gulls and waterfowl were down, as was that of Double-crested Cormorants. The 24 individuals observed was our lowest number ever. The average number of cormorants over 15 years is 3200 individuals. In 15 years, 106 species of birds have been observed on the November count. 510 Snow Goose 5 Ross's Goose 39 Canada Goose 7 Gadwall 76 Mallard 2 Greater Scaup 7 Lesser Scaup 3 Surf Scoter 2 White-winged Scoter 2 Black Scoter 4 Scoter species? 809 Bufflehead 196 Common Goldeneye 1271 Red-breasted Merganser 70 Common Loon 53 Horned Grebe 24 Double-crested Cormorant 3 Bald Eagle * Sharp-shinned Hawk * Cooper's Hawk * Red-tailed Hawk 1 Merlin 71 Bonaparte's Gull 28 Ring-billed Gull 176 Herring Gull 1 Great Black-backed Gull * Eastern Screech-Owl * Great Horned Owl * Northern Saw-whet Owl 4 Red-bellied Woodpecker 32 Downy Woodpecker 22 Northern Flicker 1 Eastern Phoebe 2 Blue Jay 67 American Crow 61 Horned Lark 107 Black-capped Chickadee 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 9 Brown Creeper 4 Carolina Wren 2 Winter Wren 5 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Eastern Bluebird 5 Hermit Thrush 178 American Robin 973 European Starling 148 Cedar Waxwing 45 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Eastern Towhee 12 American Tree Sparrow 1 Chipping Sparrow 2 Song Sparrow 86 White-throated Sparrow 26 Dark-eyed Junco 43 Northern Cardinal 17 Rusty Blackbird 1 Common Grackle 32 House Finch 37 American Goldfinch 25 House Sparrow 54 species observed on the census 5311 individuals observed on the census * = species observed on the island on count day but not on census route Tom Bartlett -- 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]