Filling in some gaps in the year list

I went out after a morning rain shower on Saturday to Blendon Woods Metro Park. I thought about sleeping in but it was just nagging at my brain that morning to do some birding, so off I went.

Good thing I did, it was one of the best days for warblers I've had at the park. I spent about 2 hours birding and had 11 species of warblers for my effort, plus I finally saw the mother turkey and her youngsters that are living around the blinds near the pond. I added Blackpoll and Bay-breasted Warbler to my Ohio year list, which was good - I' m missing Cape May Warbler and Northern Waterthrush from the common warblers that pass through Ohio. I also looked for Mourning Warbler as it had been reported from one of the trails, but no luck. I'm hoping we luck into some great warblers and shorebirds on the Avids trip this saturday. I think I have a decent shot at 250 for a state list this year - not bad considering I barely birded at all in Ohio during the month of May, which is typically my best month for adding to a year list.

I also leave in a little over two weeks for Tucson, AZ. I'm really eager to get there and do some birding - I figured I could add 21 life birds just by hanging out in my friend's yard alone...

State Bird #298: Wood Stork!

Three juvenile Wood Storks are hanging out in Coshocton County right now. I went out to see them last night with Brad, Paul and Jeff from my birding group, and we ran into Bill and Troy while we were there (along with about 30 Amish birders).

Wood Stork is an incredibly rare find for Ohio, with only a handful of previous records (I think - I need to check on that). Here's a photo of the birds from last night.

Two new birds for my state list

Last Saturday, I went out with my group of birding friends to Jefferson County, which is on the Ohio/West Virginia border, south of Youngstown. Our goal was to see the Common Raven family that had bred successfully, the first time in over a hundred years for this species in Ohio. To make a long story short, we did manage to see the birds, five of them swooping and playing in the air, and I got a great look at one on someone's lawn before it flew off. I also had the best look I've ever had at a Black-billed Cuckoo at Fernwood State Forest where we started birding that morning.

Later that day, I also added Upland Sandpiper to my state list, ticking it off at the Harrison County Airport (where I also added Bobolink to my Ohio year list).

So now, I'm up to 293 species on my Ohio list. This weekend, I'm probably going out with a couple friends to the NW corner of the state, to see the Western Meadowlark and Clay-colored Sparrows up near Toledo. Both would be additions to my state list, and Clay-colored Sparrow would also be an ABA area bird for me. I'm trying to convince my buddies that we should hit a decent marsh for Marsh Wren - my Nemesis bird. I really don't want such a common bird to be a "milestone" bird -either Ohio #300 or ABA# 400!

#382: Least Flycatcher - one nemesis bird down, one to go!

Today I spent about 6.5 hours in a woodlot in Montgomery County, Ohio. I wasn't there to bird but for work - however, I have eyes and ears, and the woodlot was full of migrants. During lunch, I pulled out my crappy field binoculars and looked around. Loads of warblers - Yellow-rumped, Yellow, Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Green, Nashville, and Hooded. I also had a Yellow-throated Vireo, a truly beautiful bird.

But the best was that I finally saw a Least Flycatcher, a common migrant anda bird that has been avoiding me for the past four years. I heard it calling and tracked it down and had a halfway decent look at it while it called. SCORE!

Least Flycatcher: Life bird #382, ABA bird #340, Ohio Bird #289, Year bird #200, and Ohio Year bird #178!

The Next 14

So, yesterday I noted that I had 14 birds left to see before hitting 300 for Ohio. Before Saturday, I had composed a list of the 15 birds I thought I had the best chance of seeing in Ohio to make the magic number. These birds included:

1. Least Flycatcher
2. Marsh Wren
3. Cattle Egret
4. Franklin's Gull
5. Eurasian Collared Dove
6. Golden Eagle
7. Little Gull
8. Connecticut Warbler
9. Clay Colored Sparrow
10. Least Bittern
    
11. Chuck-wills-widow
12. Marbled Godwit
13. Golden-winged Warbler
14. Pomarine Jaegar
15. Upland Sandpiper

Now, obviously Hoary Redpoll wasn't on that list, because it's a very rare bird for Ohio. In fact, none of the original 15 are review list birds, as Hoary Redpoll is. But it just goes to show that you never know what bird is going to be your next state bird. Before last year, I wouldn't have dreamed of seeing a Mississippi Kite in Ohio, but I did.

My new list of the most likely 14 is now:

1. Least Flycatcher
2. Marsh Wren
3. Cattle Egret
4. Franklin's Gull
5. Eurasian Collared Dove
6. Golden Eagle
7. Little Gull
8. Connecticut Warbler
9. Clay Colored Sparrow
10. Least Bittern
    
11. Chuck-wills-widow
12. Marbled Godwit
13. Golden-winged Warbler
14. Pomarine Jaegar

I don't think I will see all these birds this year, but I think I have a shot at 7 or 8 of them. I'm trying for Golden Eagle next weekend at the Wilds. I've dipped on that bird numerous times, but I'm feeling lucky!

First bird of 2008/ Kingston CBC

My first bird of the year was a lingering Savannah Sparrow on the Kingston, Ohio CBC, seen January 1st. My friend Paul and I were responsible for the upper portion of the circle (if the circle were a clock, the portion would have been a wedge between 11 and 1 o'clock, with the southern boundary being a line drawn between 10 and 2 o'clock). This area was mostly barren farm fields and ratty-looking developments, but there was some bottomlands and CRP lands that held some birds. Not helping any was the strong gusty winds all day.

Still, we counted 33 species of birds for our portion, including both accipters common to Ohio, Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels; thousands of Common Grackles and Starlings, and the rest of the common birds.

I only missed one bird that Paul saw, a red-winged blackbird.

After the count, we headed back to Columbus and saw the Black-crowned Night Herons in their winter roost at Drake Union at the OSU campus and looked for the Merlin at the OSU wetlands facility, with no luck.

Tomorrow is my first Avids trip of the year - we're headed to Lake Erie for gulls, waterfowl, and who knows what else.

Next week will be exciting for me- my first trip to the southwest (at least as a birder)! I have a conference I will be attending in Albuquerque, and I have two opportunities to bird: A tour to Chaco Culture National Park, which is cool in and of itself, but should also give me some arid-habitat birds; and a day focusing on Sandia Crest for winter montane birds. If time allows, I may head down to Bosque del Apache for the snow and Ross's geese and other birds.

My best year yet for Ohio

As I mentioned in my last CBC post, I probably won't be adding anything to my Ohio year list before we leave for the UP on Saturday. So, I figured I would post a recap of the year.

I ended up with 254 species on my year list, 28 more species than last year. I've seen all but nine of the 205 birds categorized as "easy to see birds" on the new Ohio checklist with codes. The species I missed were Sanderling, Least Flycatcher, Marsh Wren, Summer Tanager, Vesper Sparrow, Lapland Longspur, Snow Bunting, Dickcissel, and Bobolink. I also saw 9 review-list species, which may be a personal best for me. Of the Ohio birds I saw, 17 species were life birds for me: Thayer's Gull (Feb. 24), Long-eared Owls (March 3), Harris' Sparrow (March 10), Black-necked Stilt (April 21), Tri-colored Heron (April 21), Yellow-throated Vireo (April 28), Bell's Vireo (May 11), Mourning Warbler (May 12), Glossy Ibis (May 12), Sedge Wren (May 12), Alder Flycatcher (May 26), Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (May 26), Mississippi Kite (June 21), Lark Sparrow (July 26), Red Phalarope (Sept. 3), Orange-crowned Warbler (Oct. 6), and Black-legged Kittiwake (Dec. 8).

I also added the following birds to my state life list: Long-tailed Duck (Feb. 24), American Bittern (April 28), Yellow-headed Blackbird (May 12), Olive-sided Flycatcher (May 22), Evening Grosbeak (Nov. 10), Pine Siskin (Nov. 10), Red Crossbill (Nov. 18), Pine Grosbeak (Dec. 1), and Common Redpoll (Dec. 8). I have a total of 285 birds on my Ohio life list, which is pretty good considering there are 291 non-review species for the state (I have 22 birds to go to see every non-review list species).

All in all, a good Ohio year!

250, 251! No, wait a minute. It's 250.

What am I referring to with that title? Well, as I have posted here recently, I was on a quest to hit 250 Ohio species observed this year. Up until Saturday, I was (or thought I was) at 249.

Saturday, I went with my friends Brad, Paul and Jeff up to Oak Openings Metropark near Toledo to see the Pine Grosbeaks that have been hanging out there. Paul and I got good looks, Brad got crappy looks and groused about it all day. But I thought there's bird number 250!

But then as we talked about listing through out the day, I realized that I had been basing my count on my eBird totals, which counted the Trumpeter Swans I've seen this year. Now, in Ohio, Trumpeter Swans are not generally accepted by the records committee, since they are an introduced species (Some say reintroduced, but I gather that there is no good data supporting Ohio as part of their former breeding range, but I digress). So really, when I saw the grosbeak (an Ohio life bird, by the way), it was really only bird 249 for the year. Back to where I started on the day!

But I lucked out and hit 250 anyway at the end of the day, when Brad managed to find the Northern Shrike that he'd seen last week at Maumee Bay State Park.

Unfortunately, I wasn't in a position to get any type of good photo of either bird. I did get a couple good photos of Pine Siskins when we were at Oak Openings, though, so here they are: