MARCH 04, 2016 - CUYAHOGA VALLEY MONTHLY TOWPATH TRAIL CENSUS.HIKE: Red Lock Trailhead south to Merriman Rd. TIME: 7:10am-3:50pm TEMP.: 32-41-32COND.: About 1&1/2 inches of fresh snow at start, melting away throughout the day; cloudy & calm all day.TRAIL COND.: Fresh snow early, easy walking; melting away to wet & muddy in parts; section from AkronCompost Facility south to Merriman Rd. in terrible, wet & muddy conditions due to heavy machinery &fence installation along trail for tree & brush removal along sewer trunk line.RIVER COND.: Higher than normal, swift & somewhat muddy.FT.MI.: 13.71 OBS.: John Henry & Douglas W. Vogus. I. MAMMALS: 6 SPECIES. - Mink - 1 - Eastern Chipmunk - 2 - Eastern Fox Squirrel - 2 - Red Squirrel - 12 - Beaver - 1 (Brandywine Creek) - White-tailed Deer - 18 (does) II. BIRDS: 43 SPECIES (lowest March total since start of census on 01/2010), 1 NEW SPECIES TO CENSUS.(NOTE: ? = bird was seen but not sexed; * = bird was heard calling but not sexed) - Canada Goose - 183 - American Black Duck - 8 (4m,4f) - Mallard - 37 (21m,15f,1*) - Great Blue Heron - 36 (34 of them scared off their nests by immature Bald Eagle at Bath Rd.) - Turkey Vulture - 2 - Bald Eagle - 2 (1 adult,1 immature) - Red-tailed Hawk - 3 (1 adult carrying a stick to new nest west of "Stanford Swamp" in sycamore tree) - Ring-billed Gull - 31 - Rock Pigeon - 23 - Mourning Dove - 12 - Great Horned Owl - 1 (hooting at 2:22pm between Cuyahoga River & Riverview Rd. at Lock 24 - hooted 6 times. New Species on Census - now at 177 species since January 2010). - Belted Kingfisher - 3 (m) - Red-bellied Woodpecker - 16 (5m,3f,1?,7*) - Downy Woodpecker - 15 (5m,4f,2?,4*) - Hairy Woodpecker - 6 (1f,3?,2*) - Northern Flicker - 2 (*) - Pileated Woodpecker - 5 (4m,1*) - Peregrine Falcon - 1 (m) - Blue Jay - 30 - American Crow - 76 - Black-capped Chickadee - 25 - Tufted Titmouse - 18 - White-breasted Nuthatch - 14 (6m,1f,1?,6*) - Winter Wren - 2 (Tied Census High from 11/2010, 12/2010 & 11/2011) - Carolina Wren - 8 - Golden-crowned Kinglet - 2 (1m,1f) - Eastern Bluebird - 18 (12m,6f) - American Robin - 47 - European Starling - 178 - Eastern Towhee - 1 (m) - American Tree Sparrow - 19 - Song Sparrow - 15 - Swamp Sparrow - 1 - White-throated Sparrow - 6 - Dark-eyed Junco - 6 (4m,1f,1*) - Northern Cardinal - 55 (42m,9f,4*) - Red-winged Blackbird - 92 (89m,3f) - Rusty Blackbird - 21 (17m,4f - at Szalay's corn stubble field) - Common Grackle - 7 - Brown-headed Cowbird - 3 (2m,1f) - House Finch - 4 (2m,1f,1*) - American Goldfinch - 10 - House Sparrow - 30 Douglas W. Vogus - Akron, Ohio. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]