East Fork Christmas Bird Count

Tweet Jaime and I attended the East Fork CBC Saturday. This is always my favorite count to go on because it is near my home and covers places I am familiar with. It always proves that there are good birds all around us, but most go unnoticed by birders. All in all, got good birds, met new birders, very good day.

Went owling before the count and was able to get/call in 2 Great Horned Owls, 2 Barred Owls, and 1 Screech Owl, all of them from the park property, which is not always easy - off to good start.

The morning started out very slow (a little cold), but as the day got later, the birds got better.

There was no tally, so I do not know what others groups may have. I know ours had some good birds.

Some pictures from the day:

Sandhill Cranes in Salt Air (name of small town),



I spotted a distant raptor that looked different from the many kestrels we were seeing (both a good thing). We stopped, got closer looks and confirmed a Merlin (also later saw bird in flight). This was outside of Bethel on country roads. Not a good photo, but better than my other pic of a merlin that was right in front of me (my old crappy camera).



Many raptors. Some of our group's better birds were:

1 Rusty Blackbird
Sandhill Cranes
A Merlin
Harriers
A male Purple Finch
2 Fox Sparrows

May be missing something. Tweet

The 62nd Cincinnati Christmas Bird Count

Tweet Good day of bird counting. Had a good time, nice weather, nice birds and met a new birder. Held Dec. 28th '08

Here are the photos of 1 of the 2 Chipping Sparrows that our party had seen on the count. While not publishing quality, (I am no good at taking pictures!) good enough for documentation. The birds were at the edge of a future subdivision off of ST RT 131 in Milford.


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Cincy Birders in the Enquirer!

Tweet We "bird nerds" have made today's Cincinnati Enquirer:

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Another Life Gull!

Tweet Many thanks to Bill Stanley for finding another great gull at East Fork State Park. The Glaucous Gull is a life bird. Even though the temp was in the teens, the bird would be a colder bird to be seen up on the lake ;-) I got to study the bird at flight and behavior.

Also got to meet another local nature blogger, Nina from Nature Remains. I always enjoy meeting new people who need nature for their souls.

Got some pictures, and a short movie of the gull in flight.






Short video:

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1st Pine Siskin of the season

Tweet Apparently, from reports from farther north, it is going to be a good bumper crop year for Pine Siskins. Below is one of many to come. Only 1 so far...

Under feeders in backyard.

Update: as of Saturday, the 25th of Oct., 11 Pine Siskins are the high. Interesting to keep track of them by checking Ethan Kistler's map of Pine Siskin movement in Ohio.

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Sparrow banding Sunday at Miami Whitewater

Tweet Last Sunday, Jaime and I went to the annual sparrow banding event put on by the Avian Research and Education Institute at Miami Whitewater Park. Good birds were seen, however no "good" (i.e. LeConte's, Henslow's, or Nelson's Sharptails) sparrows were caught except for Lincoln's.

Sister Marty Dermody was also conducting a Big Sit at the wetlands. There were some good birds on the list when I left.

Susan will love this post ;-)

Lincoln's Sparrow (above as well)

And, a quiz bird:

Answer at bottom of post.

And, here is a bad photo of a Nelson's Sharptailed Sparrow I found on my comp from years past at MW (my old crappy camera). Look at the pointy tail for which it is named.




And, just for a break from sparrows, here is a female Hairy Woodpecker that was caught out in the fields (?) Love the nictitating membrane!



There were also good butterflies flying around. Here is a Common Buckeye, they were everywhere!




Answer to quiz bird: Alternate form Savannah Sparrow

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Saw-whet Owl banding started

Tweet Visited Mr. Tolford's newly opened Saw-whet Owl banding station in Liberty, IN last night. This is kind of early for this far south, but Project Owlnet requires the project to start on this date. Didn't catch any owls while I was there. I am hoping to be able to go back later in the season when there are some owls, but ol' greedy Dillon still wants his money!!! (I might's well face it, he's the one really getting ahead from my relentless slaving)

Saw-whet from last year at Chillicothe, OH.

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A day of damselflies

Tweet Last Saturday, I took a walk behind my sister's house on Eight Mile Creek in Anderson Twp., Hamilton Co. Went looking for Odes.


First, I saw many of these, but didn't know what they were

Until I saw it in a wheel

Ebony Jewelwings making love.

I love the males

Neon Green, then

Neon Blue

Also seen was this Powdered Dancer

Other Odes seen were Variable Dancer and Blue-fronted Dancers. I would not have bee able to ID the damsels on here if it weren't for Bill Hull's help and his wonderful site at http://www.mangoverde.com/ It is definitely worth checking out, as it has audio of birds and pics of birds, odes and lepids from around the world. Tweet

A Po' boys cruise & Birds of Prey Day

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On June 28th, I took my mother, girlfriend and nephew on an Ohio River cruise aboard BB Riverboat's Mark Twain. My mother always said she wanted to go on a cruise, and this is as close as I can afford, a poor man's cruise if you will. We boarded at the Chilo Lock #34 Park in Chilo.

We all had a good time. At the start of the cruise before boarding, Jaime dropped mother's disposable camera in the river - it was hilarious.

This is the first time that I have ever been in a lock. Pigeons and Barn Swallows were nesting in the cavities of the walls. Plants were growing on the ledges of the lock doors, creating a sort of micro habitat that moves. Below is a picture of a tiger lilly growing on the lock door.



The ride only lasted about an hour and a half, most of which was spent in the locks. It was interesting to see how they work.

After the boat ride, the Clermont Co. Park District's Raptor Day was starting to get going. Susan with Raptor Inc. was 1st up. I always enjoy her enthusiasm. There needs to be more people like her around.

Susan with Sylvester. (Click on her blog link above for better and more pics)

Next up was the Cincinnati Zoo's Wings of Wonder Bird Show. Below is a new bird for me, (too bad can't add it to my lifelist) the Spectacled Owl of Central and South America.

Mother thought it looked like a monkey. It had real silky feathers.

Next, was a Laughing Kookaburra from Australia. The audience was able to get it going.

And next, a Hyacinth Macaw from South America. The largest of the macaws and the largest flying parrot species.

And last but certainly not least, Sam the Bald Eagle. Sam is a local celebrity that works for the Cincinnati Reds and even has his own baseball card. Sam is flown before games at Great American Ballpark.


And, just in time for the 4th of July, this nice shot





In between presentations, Jaime and I took a walk in the nearby Crooked Run NP. The insects were better than the birds.

Male Blue-fronted Dancer

Banded Hairstreak

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Hard Times

Tweet Due to the rising price of groceries and my stagnant paycheck, I have decided to make the best of the cicadas. Although, they are rather bland!

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1st Annual Queen City Bird Festival

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Saturday, May 3rd, Jaime and I attended the 1st Annual Queen City Bird Festival held at the College of Mt. St. Joseph in Delhi, OH. The event was put together by Dr. Jill Russell (prof. at MTSTJ), executive director of The Avian Research and Education Institute (AREI).

The day started out with heavy rain and 25mph winds. It was decided to move the vendors/exhibitors into the small Earth House on the campus. Many local environmental organizations and businesses participated, including Dr. Jon Seymour from Oxbow, Inc, and Susan with raptors from Raptor, Inc. It was too crowded for me to spend much time in the Earth House. It seemed as if the weather would not break, but by noon, the sun came out and the day was nice. This allowed for mist nets to be set up behind the Earth House. Some of the birds below were caught at the new Clifford Bird Observatory which is located in the cemetery behind the Sisters of Charity Motherhouse. Here are a few pictures of birds from that day.

1st Bird of the day, Tufted Titmouse.

Female Eastern Towhee

Probably the best bird of the day, a breeding plumage male Orchard Oriole.

A very fat (ready to go) White-throated Sparrow (tan stripe) (fat: 5!)

Visitors watching a male Northern Cardinal get banded.




And the cardinal protesting.

Even with all the rain, they had 86 participants! Nice number considering the weather. Again, the Russells are to be commended for taking the lead in educating our youth.

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Queen City Bird Festival

Tweet News of the upcoming 1st Annual Queen City Bird Festival on Saturday, May 3rd has made it to the Cincinnati Enquirer - Inaugural festival will celebrate the return of migratory birds.

I will be attending. This is what Cincy needs. The Russells are taking the lead to educate our youth about nature. Tweet

Love this bird!

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After a morning in the 30's, this was nice to wake up to this afternoon. Just breathing it in...

Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak at backyard feeder.

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Spring has Sprung

Tweet It is nice to finally see some nice weather. It is amazing how mother nature can lift ones' soul from the gutters. If only more people would look to nature instead of ...

This Great Egret was on the flooded Ohio River banks in New Richmond, OH. Many breeding plumaged Bonaparte's Gulls were flying down the river as well.

At Home, Red-shouldered Hawks were flying and screaming above me -

and the Spring Beauties are blooming in the backyard.

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Grebes at East Fork

Tweet Spent a cold winter, I mean spring day looking for birds in the flooded surroundings of East Fork State Park. Saw some OK birds.

1 Eastern Phoebe

~10 Red-breasted Mergansers

2 Common Mergansers

~4 Common Loons calling and in breeding plumage

~10 Ruddy Ducks

~20 Horned Grebes

1 EARED GREBE

~10 Pied-billed Grebes

2 GB Herons

Mallards

Ring-necked Ducks

Lesser Scaup

TONS of Buffleheads

1 Northern Shoveler male sleeping

Canada Geese

The Grebes and Buffleheads were swimming in the flooded parking lots at the beach.

Horned Grebe in Winter Plumage

Eared Grebe - this bird was different in profile than the nearby Horned Grebe. It got close enough to me that I could see in my scope the yellow plumes by the eye, but my camera's batteries died. This bird was molting. It had the high peek above eye and dark tip to bill. (the pic looks better on my camera than here for some reason)

Never seen an Eared Grebe before, so this would be a lifebird.

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