On Friday, Sandy Tkach, her dad, Paula and I conducted the Kelleys Island monthly census. This is the 15th year for a March census on the island. It was very unusual. I have never done a March census in just a long-sleeve T-shirt. With several days of southerly winds, many waterfowl and gulls have left. We added three new species to the March list; Wild Turkey, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. We also had 4 species of butterflies and a dragonfly. Crazy year! Also unusual was the absence of Blue Jays, Hermit Thrushes, and Rusty Blackbirds. 54 species were observed during the census which is about average for a March census (55 is the 15 year average). The 3147 individuals is low for the census (15 year average is 5551 individuals). 1 Horned Grebe 1 Double-crested Cormorant 2 Great Blue Heron 31 Canada Goose 2 Wood Duck 1 American Wigeon 28 Mallard 1 Redhead 3 Lesser Scaup 164 Bufflehead 269 Common Goldeneye 1 Common Merganser 122 Red-breasted Merganser 50 Duck species? (mostly divers) 4 Turkey Vulture 1 Bald Eagle 1 Cooper's Hawk * Red-tailed Hawk 1 American Kestrel 9 Wild Turkey 9 Killdeer 2 American Woodcock 5 Bonaparte's Gull 3 Ring-billed Gull 99 Herring Gull 9 Great Black-backed Gull 15 Mourning Dove 1 Eastern Screech-Owl 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker 43 Downy Woodpecker 14 Northern Flicker 5 Eastern Phoebe 32 American Crow 4 Horned Lark 6 Tree Swallow 99 Black-capped Chickadee 16 Brown Creeper 5 Carolina Wren 4 Winter Wren 13 Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2 Eastern Bluebird 302 American Robin 104 European Starling 43 Yellow-rumped Warbler 70 Northern Cardinal * American Tree Sparrow 17 Song Sparrow 33 White-throated Sparrow 22 Dark-eyed Junco 513 Red-winged Blackbird 766 Common Grackle 58 Brown-headed Cowbird 57 House Finch * Pine Siskin 1 American Goldfinch 78 House Sparrow 54 Species 3147 individuals Tom -- 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]