DECEMBER 03, 2016 - CUYAHOGA VALLEY MONTHLY TOWPATH TRAIL CENSUS.HIKE: Towpath Trail from Red Lock Trailhead south to Merriman Valley. TIME: 7:30am - 4:30pm TEMP.: 38~42~39COND.: Chilly, gray & cloudy all day; occasional light SW winds; no snow cover - all water open.TRAIL COND.: Fair - some muddy, slick spots. Construction equipment staging between old Jaite box factory & Stanford Swamp to repair Cuyahoga River erosion along trail. Many dead ash trees cut down along trail between Red Lock & Boston to prevent future clean-ups. Overhead bridge maintenance between Akron Compost Facility & Akron Water Pollution Control Station completed. E.P.A.-mandated upgrades to sewer trunk line completed with many new trees/shrubs planted. RIVER COND.: Normal.FT.MI.: 13.51 OBS.: John Henry & Douglas W. Vogus. I. MAMMALS: 4 SPECIES. - Eastern Gray Squirrel - 1 - Eastern Fox Squirrel - 3 - Red Squirrel - 8 - White-tailed Deer - 5 (7-pt buck,2 doe,2 yearling) II. BIRDS: 47 SPECIES (Tied December High from 12/07/2013), 653 INDIVIDUALS (Lowest December Total).(NOTE: m = male; f = female; ? = bird was seen but not sexed; * = bird was heard calling but not sexed) - Canada Goose - 12 - American Black Duck - 23 (5m,5f,13?) - Mallard - 67 (26m,15f,26?) - Northern Pintail - 1 (m - at Ira Beaver Marsh - first December record) - Ring-necked Duck - 2 (1m,1f - at Dover Pond - first December record) - Unidentified Ducks - 5 - Wild Turkey - 1 (getting ready to roost about 60ft up in a sycamore tree - first December record) - Pied-billed Grebe - 1 (Ira Beaver Marsh) - Rock Pigeon - 3 - Mourning Dove - 3 - Ring-billed Gull - 27 - Herring Gull - 1 - Common Loon - 2 (fly-overs heading SW above Stanford Swamp - first December record) - Great Blue Heron - 4 - Bald Eagle - 2 (adult male & adult female near Peninsula) - Cooper's Hawk - 1 (m) - Red-tailed Hawk - 5 - Belted Kingfisher - 4 (2m,1f,1*) - Red-bellied Woodpecker - 10 (8m,1f,1*) - Downy Woodpecker - 21 (10m,8f,2?,1*) - Hairy Woodpecker - 13 (5m,4f,4*) - Northern Flicker - 4 (*) - Pileated Woodpecker - 1 (m) - Peregrine Falcon - 2 (1m,1f - unbanded male tentatively named "Trailblazer" & female "Gatewood", now in adult plumage. Not known if "Rocky" has gone south or given up on the Ohio Turnpike nest site - info per Chad & Chris Saladin's peregrine website) - Blue Jay - 26 - American Crow - 90 - Black-capped Chickadee - 41 - Tufted Titmouse - 17 - White-breasted Nuthatch - 25 (8m,3f,3?,11*) - Brown Creeper - 2 - Winter Wren - 1 - Carolina Wren - 5 - Eastern Bluebird - 9 (4m,4f,1*) - European Starling - 60 - Cedar Waxwing - 14 - House Sparrow - 5 - House Finch - 4 (1m,2?,1*) - American Goldfinch - 34 - Eastern Towhee - 3 (2m,1*) - American Tree Sparrow - 30 - Field Sparrow - 1 (near the boardwalk at Lonesome Lock - first December record) - Song Sparrow - 12 - Swamp Sparrow - 3 - White-throated Sparrow - 21 - Dark-eyed Junco - 2 (1f,1?) - Northern Cardinal - 29 (11m,13f,5*) - Red-winged Blackbird - 2 (m) - Common Grackle - 1 - Unidentified Passerines - 4 III. FISHES: 1 SPECIES. - Creek Chub - 17 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]