The Hancock County Naturalists conducted their annual Christmas Bird Count on Saturday, December 20, 2014. They tallied a total of 64 species, and 10,070 total birds. The 64 species is slightly higher than average, while the 10,070 is below normal, probably due mostly to the fact that it remained overcast all day. The low numbers are more pronounced when one notices that nearly 70% of all birds seen were either Canada Geese, Starlings, or the gulls collectively. A total of 36 people participated in this year's count. Not many very rare species were seen, with the obvious exception of a Golden-crowned Sparrow. Noteworthy was a single Great Black-backed Gull, 11 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 Pileated Woodpeckers, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a late Chipping Sparrow, and a Hermit Thrush. Also noteworthy was the absence of any Red-breasted Nuthatches on count day, as well as low numbers of Common Loon (1), Mourning Doves (72), and White-throated Sparrows (11). Complete list below: Canada Goose 1664 American Wigeon 1 Mallard 76 Northern Pintail 1 Redhead 1 Bufflehead 1 Common Goldeneye 2 Red-breasted Merganser 4 Ruddy Duck 122 Wild Turkey 32 Common Loon 1 Great Blue Heron 1 Bald Eagle 9 Cooper’s Hawk 8 Red-tailed Hawk 26 Ring-billed Gull 1396 Herring Gull 729 Lesser Black-backed Gull 11 Great Black-backed Gull 1 gull species 1500 Rock Pigeon 294 Mourning Dove 72 Barred Owl 1 Belted Kingfisher 3 Red-headed Woodpecker 9 Red-bellied Woodpecker 79 Downy Woodpecker 138 Hairy Woodpecker 16 Northern Flicker 25 Pileated Woodpecker 2 American Kestrel 22 Blue Jay 138 American Crow 60 Horned Lark 32 Carolina Chickadee 4 Black-capped Chickadee 13 Carolina/ Black-capped Ch. 35 Tufted Titmouse 51 White-breasted Nuthatch 132 Brown Creeper 37 Carolina Wren 11 Golden-crowned Kinglet 6 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Eastern Bluebird 9 Hermit Thrush 1 American Robin 15 Northern Mockingbird 3 European Starling 1739 Cedar Waxwing 43 Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 American Tree Sparrow 116 Chipping Sparrow 1 Field Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 14 White-throated Sparrow 11 White-crowned Sparrow 6 Golden-crowned Sparrow 1 Dark-eyed Junco 218 Northern Cardinal 154 Red-winged Blackbird 2 Common Grackle 1 Purple Finch 1 House Finch 279 Pine Siskin 23 American Goldfinch 145 House Sparrow 518 Seen the next day, so not on the count: Thayer's Gull, Glaucous Gull, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Snow Bunting. Reminder: for directions and instructions regarding the GCSP, please check out this link: http://rarebird.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=8371&title=goldencrowned-sparrow ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]