FEBRUARY 03, 2017 - CUYAHOGA VALLEY MONTHLY TOWPATH TRAIL CENSUS. ROUTE: Red Lock Trailhead south to Merriman Valley. TIME: 7:40am - 4:25pm TEMP.: 23 ~ 30 ~ 29 COND.: Cold and cloudy, very light snow falling - no accumulation, ending at 10:35am; intermittent flakes throughout the day; flurries from 1:15pm - 2:40pm - no accumulation. Winds light and variable - SW/W shifting to W/NW and then N by late afternoon. Minimal snow coverage on ground. Dover Pond and Ira Beaver Marsh frozen. TRAIL COND.: Fair. Frozen with some patches of ice. Due to active riverbank erosion construction we were re-routed off the Towpath Trail at old Jaite paper mill and onto Valley Bridle Trail to Stanford Rd. to the Stanford House Connector Trail back to Towpath Trail just north of Boston. Boardwalk at Stumpy Basin covered in snow and ice. Some trail damage from flooded river to the asphalt portion just north of Lock 30 near Peninsula from January's unseasonably warm weather and heavy rains. RIVER COND.: Swift and slightly above normal. FT.MI.: 14.20 OBS.: John Henry & Douglas W. Vogus. I. MAMMALS: 2 SPECIES. 1. Red Squirrel - 1 2. White-tailed Deer - 2 II. BIRDS: 44 SPECIES, 1,092 TOTAL BIRDS. (NOTE: m = male; f = female; ? = bird was seen but not sexed; * = bird was heard calling but not sexed) 1. Ross's Goose - 1 (New Species on Census - Species #180 since 01/01/2010. Was seen in the Boston horse pasture just north of Boston Cemetery feeding with 150+ Canada Geese) 2. Canada Goose - 179 3. American Black Duck - 23 (12m,11f) 4. Mallard - 121 (72m,49f) 5. Northern Pintail - 1 (m) 6. Common Merganser - 3 (2m,1f) 7. Rock Pigeon - 27 8. Mourning Dove - 7 9. Ring-billed Gull - 113 10. Herring Gull - 111 11. Great Blue Heron - 2 12. Bald Eagle - 1 (adult - at Bath Rd.) 13. Cooper's Hawk - 2 (adult f - one with a fresh-killed European Starling. Tied Census High from 13 different occasions) 14. Red-shouldered Hawk - 1 (immature) 15. Red-tailed Hawk - 4 (1 immature) 16. Belted Kingfisher - 3 (1m,2*) 17. Red-bellied Woodpecker - 8 (4m,1f,2?,1*) 18. Downy Woodpecker - 17 (6m,2f,3?,6*) 19. Hairy Woodpecker - 11 (1m,2f,1?,7*) 20. Northern Flicker - 1 (*) 21. Pileated Woodpecker - 3 (m) 22. Peregrine Falcon - 2 (1m,1f - "Trailblazer" & "Gatewood" at Ohio Turnpike Bridge) 23. Blue Jay - 8 24. American Crow - 152 25. Horned Lark - 1 (fly-over - First February Record on Census) 26. Black-capped Chickadee - 17 27. Tufted Titmouse - 11 28. White-breasted Nuthatch - 19 (6m,2f,2?,9*) 29. Brown Creeper - 1 30. Winter Wren - 2 (Tied Census High from 5 different occasions) 31. Carolina Wren - 2 32. Eastern Bluebird - 31 (16m,15f) 33. American Robin - 12 (one-flock fly-over) 34. European Starling - 49 35. Cedar Waxwing - 33 36. House Sparrow - 21 37. American Goldfinch - 11 38. American Tree Sparrow - 27 39. Song Sparrow - 9 40. Swamp Sparrow - 1 41. White-throated Sparrow - 13 42. Dark-eyed Junco - 4 (2m,2f) 43. Northern Cardinal - 22 (11m,8f,3*) 44. Common Grackle - 1 (Unidentified Passerines - 4) 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]