2010 Great Backyard Bird Count: A Summary

Tweet There was snow cover on the ground during the entire period, which kept the feeders very busy.



Sparrows as a group were the most numerous birds, breaking many of my previous all time highs for the yard. I had 15 Eastern Towhees (tie), 38 American Tree Sparrows (record), 35 White-throated Sparrows(record), 8 Dark-eyed Juncos, 1 Fox Sparrow, and 8 Song Sparrows (record) *Highest # counted at one time, per the GBBC rules

The new 1 foot of snow on Presidents Day brought in more good birds, including 10 Brown-headed Cowbirds and 1 male Eastern Bluebird. The birds were fighting for the feeders and I even had a male towhee try to stay on the feeder as I was trying to fill it. He made an odd squealing sound as I approached him.

Wasn't able to get all of my expected woodpeckers, but was surprised by a brief sighting of a Red-headed Woodpecker that was down the street (flew over yard, but didn't stop at feeders). Broke my all time high for the yard for Red-bellies (8 at one time).

Somehow I managed to miss my resident Red-shoulder that I had seen the day before the count. I did get feeder raids by both expected accipters though. Also had flyovers of a Red tail, 1 Turkey Vulture and 3 Black Vultures. Was able to call in an Eastern Screech-owl at dusk. The Great-horned was heard calling from the big woods across the street at dusk while filling feeders.

Complete species list for weekend:

Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Mourning Dove
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
European Starling
Eastern Towhee
American Tree Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

I had 34 species seen or heard in or from my yard for all 4 days combined.

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Winter river hopping

Tweet Had to go downtown to take care of family business today, so I didn't really have much time to do any serious birding. I was wanting to go to Armleder , but since I had family with me, that was not an option. Instead, I decided to go river hopping by stopping at various spots along the Ohio River (I have found some of my best birds this way).

First stop was at Rivertowne Marina, where there were 3 Horned Larks on the entrance road.

2 of 3 horned larks seen. Love these birds!

Decided to drive to the back of the marina. Most of the water was frozen, but did manage to find a juvenile Double-crested Cormorant flapping its wings and a Great Blue getting ready to spear a fish. I don't run into cormorants in winter around here very often.

Juv. DC Cormorant and GB Heron.

Went to another nearby marina and was only able to find a Pied-billed Grebe and a few Canada Geese. Stopped at a few other sites along the river between Cincinnati and New Richmond, but didn't come up with anything noteworthy. However, I did come across a Killdeer (in a parking lot none the less), which is not too easy to find at this time of year.

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Winter blahs...

Tweet There hasn't been much going on bird wise.

Ring-billed gulls on the wall in New Richmond

Desperately waiting for spring migration!

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27th Annual East Fork Christmas Bird Count

Tweet Saturday, January 2nd was the 27th Annual East Fork Christmas Bird Count. This is my favorite of the two Cincinnati area counts that I participate in. (I only live about a mile outside of the circle)

I got a late start, so I wasn't able to do much owling. It was very cold and windy, and I wasn't able to call in any owls. (I had count week CW on Eastern Screech-owl).

Despite the cold, it turned out to be a very good day! (Most of the birding was done from the warm vehicle :-)

Here are some photo highlights from the day:

The first Red-headed Woodpecker of the day. We saw 20 more before the end of the day!

A little side-note: Most of the Red-headed Woodpeckers that we got I called in by making a sound that they can't seem to resist. You can make this sound by making a fist and blowing into it like playing a trumpet - make sure your lips are closed. If done right, they will respond within seconds.

One of the Rusty Blackbirds

Leucistic or piebald Northern Cardinal. Isn't this a cool looking bird?!

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A nice way to end out a bad year...

Tweet While out taking care of business today, I decided to stop and bird a nice looking field adjacent to the Mill Creek in West Chester, Ohio (north of Cincy). Glad I did.

Birds seen included:

4 Wilson's Snipe
6 Eastern Meadowlarks
Several White-crowned, Song, American Tree Sparrows
3 Redtail Hawks
3 American Kestrels
Canada Geese, Mallards, American Black Ducks, Belted Kingfisher,

and this Peregrine Falcon diving on some Mourning Doves: (Keep watching, a Peregrine will soon appear!) P.S. - There is no sound!

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National Blue Jay Awareness Month

Tweet Author Laura Erickson has declared this December to be National Blue Jay Awareness Month! For the details behind her "official" declaration, please visit her Twin Beaks Blog.



**I must profess that I was a hunter before I was a birder. I was brought up around hunting and fishing, which is what led to my becoming a birder. I eventually started paying attention to every natural thing around me and ended up doing very little actual hunting at all.**

Blue Jays are not well regarded by most hunters. When I first started hunting deer, I was told that "If you hear blue jays screaming, do not bother hunting in that spot - they'll give you away!" However, from my own personal experiences, I have found the opposite to be true. Deer are curious animals. I have had more deer come in to investigate all the commotion/scolding put on by jays than be spooked by them.

I have hunter friends that often ask me how they can REPEL Blue Jays! I would ask them in return - "Why would you want to repel a bird as cool as a Blue Jay?"


Of all the many birds that come to my feeders, the Blue Jay is the only bird that my mother will ask me over and over "That is a beautiful bird, what bird is that?"


Not only are Blue Jays intelligent, fun, and interesting to watch, they can lead you to good birds! (My favorite thing about them!)

This Sharp-shinned Hawk was found and was carefully being watched by the local Blue Jays!

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Early morning Merlin

Tweet Woke up this morning, looked out the window, and found this Merlin perched in the tree across the street. I am starting to see more and more Merlins around my place every fall/winter. (Lighting was terrible. This was a quick snap, as the bird didn't stay long)

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Another so-so birding day in SW Ohio

Tweet Seeing all my birder friends' lists from recent trips from all over the place has got me wanting to see birds. Since my current financial situation will not allow me to travel to the places where good birds are, I can only bird locally for now. (My life list has been stuck at just under 300 for some time, partly due a lack of funds and the lack of quality bird habitat in SW Ohio - specifically referring to wetland/shorebird habitat)

I decided to stop by East Fork State Park Nov. 16th. I have had the feeling that I am overdue to get a good bird or rarity for some time now, but today was not the day. A quick scan of the beach and the lake with the scope only produced Ring-billed Gulls and 3 Herring Gulls. That was it. As I was getting ready to take off, a woman and her child walked down to the water's edge and the child threw something into the water. About 3 seconds later, I noticed a bird with white wing patches flying in fast from the right. It landed right in front of me. It was my FOS (first of season) Red-breasted Merganser (female). I don't know where the bird came from, but I can see how I missed it as it was feeding(?):

Feeding or drinking? female Red-breasted Merganser

The bird finally stopped feeding(?) and started preening.

After not seeing anything else, I decided to stop by the dam as I had to go that way anyway. Scanned the lake a second time and only came up with 2 Mallards and 6 Pied-billed Grebes. As I was getting ready to leave, a large bird flew in from over the tree line - an immature Bald Eagle that landed in a tree across the lake. At about the same time, another birder came running up to the car asking if I had seen it. I stopped to talk to him and ended up carrying on a long conversation about eagles, people we both know, and eagles. Always enjoy meeting new birders!! About 5 minutes into our conversation about eagles, another immature Bald Eagle flew in from the same direction and landed in the same tree.

I was able to get a distant shot of the eagles from across the lake. There are 2 eagles in the picture below if you look hard enough. (click on image for larger image)

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Avipoxvirus

Tweet Today, I decided to take a walk down my road to look for birds (what else?). Really didn't see much bird wise (maybe because the neighbor's dogs were following me barking constantly???).

What I did find was another dead bird laying on the side of the road. This time it was a Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula that appears to have succumb to complications from the cutaneous form of an Avipoxvirus. What's up with me finding all these dead birds on my walks? :-(



Since avian pox is contagious to other birds, I used a stick to turn the bird over. I don't know if this particular strain can infect psittacines, but didn't want to take any chances. This is also another good reason to disinfect your bird feeders and bird baths as often as possible (luckily, I have never seen this bird at the feeders or birdbath). Tweet

A day of woodpeckers

Tweet I spotted this Red-headed Woodpecker down the street from the house yesterday. This is only the third time I have ever seen this bird from the yard. The bird was far away and very skittish. It was also raining when I took these bad pictures.



On a sad note, while taking these pictures, I found a dead male Red-bellied Woodpecker laying on the ground under a utility pole. It looked to have been electrocuted. Tweet

Queen City Birders Club Birding Blitz Weekend

Tweet Last Saturday, I attended the Ohio Young Birders Club/Queen City Birders Club Birding Blitz Weekend/campout held at Hueston Woods State Park. It was nice to see young people out enjoying and learning about nature instead of inside playing video games. I decided against camping, since I am currently tentless -probably glad I did.

After breakfast, I headed on over to the bird banding station run by the Avian Research and Education Institute. It was a little cool early, but they had some good birds. Here are a few of the birds from the morning.

Mourning Warbler (HY female)

Blue-headed Vireo


Philadelphia Vireo

Event attendants got a behind the scenes tour of the education birds at the Hueston Woods Raptor Center by the park naturalist. The kids got to watch as the naturalist fed the Golden and Bald Eagles as well as the resident bobcat and cougar.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Eastern Screech-Owl

Dr. Dave Russell gave a very informative talk on sparrow ID in preparation for Sunday morning's trip to Miami Whitewater Wetlands for sparrow banding. (I did not go to the sparrow banding, too much traveling for this eastsider who was already an hour and a half away from home!)

More important than anything else, including the ticking off of life birds for us older birders, is that we take the time to plant the seeds of appreciation & discovery of the natural world in children.

Dr. Jill Russell instructing young birders on how to use field marks to differentiate Great Egrets from Great Blue Herons.

Dr. Herman Mays Jr., Curator of Zoology at the Cincinnati Museum Center, gave a talk on what it is like and what it takes education wise to become a professional ornithologist. He presented pics of the many birds he has seen while traveling the world working as an ornithologist. Hopefully, this will inspire the youngins to be interested in science as a career and get as much education as possible.

Dr. Mays and volunteers from the Cincinnati Museum Center came with some dead birds to show how one goes about preparing a study skin specimen for museum collections.

Dr. Herman Mays Jr. showing kids how to skin birds. (bird here is a Rose-breasted Grosbeak)

Before taking off, I decided to go back to the campground for the owl walk given by Susan from Raptor, Inc. She was able to call in a gray morph screech-owl that called back and flew over everyone's head, landing in a nearby tree. Everyone got an up close look at the bird.

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Midwest Birding Symposium

Tweet Finally made it up to Lakeside. Checked in and got the key for my cabin. When I registered, I was told that everything was full, so I had to settle for a rustic cabin. Here is the rustic cabin that I'm staying in


Not too bad with a sleeping bag. I enjoy not having the temptation of watching TV!


Birders were chumming for birds using popcorn. Didn't draw much other than Ring-billed Gulls and a few Herring Gulls. A few Canada Geese flew over as well. One birder advised that the popcorn was blowing into the windows of the lower deck of the boat. Saw some Caspian Terns earlier, but none while on the cruise.



Cruising by island, note the dead trees from all of the Double-crested Cormorant whitewash.



Beautiful sunset as we were heading back to the Lakeside dock.



Meeting lots of new birders, internet bird friends, and ones I haven't seen in a long time! Tweet

Early American Pipit

Tweet I decided to stop by East Fork State Park Wednesday morning before going to the store to get everything I need for the upcoming Midwest Birding Symposium. Since there was only one fisherman on the beach, I thought I might have a chance of seeing some shorebirds. There wasn't much going on bird wise, despite the lack of people and dogs. I did manage to see one Pectoral Sandpiper looking for bugs in the grass with the Killdeer - it even puffed up and threatened the Killdeer - pretty cool. There was also an Osprey flying around.

Went to the other side of the beach by the fisherman, I wasn't expecting to see anything. From a considerable distance, a small bird briefly caught my eye in the grass. I was hoping it was another wondering Northern Wheatear, but I know that would be unlikely. I went over to investigate and found this American Pipit (Anthus rubescens) (dang, but still good bird) chasing bugs in the grass with a Killdeer.



If everything goes right with my laptop, my next post should be from the south shore of Lake Erie from the Midwest Birding Symposium. Tweet

International Vulture Awareness Day 2009

Tweet Today, September 5th, is International Vulture Awareness Day. Vultures (sometimes wrongfully called Buzzards, which is a term for Old World hawks - Buteos) play a vital role in our ecosystems by cleaning up dead carcasses. Many people wrongfully fear vultures, which is unwarranted. Below are some facts about vultures that make them cool - at least to me anyway!

Did you know that a group of vultures is called a wake?

A "wake" of Black and Turkey Vultures.

Black Vulture Coragyps atratus

Turkey Vultures are one of very few birds that can actually smell, which allows them to locate carrion by scent. Black Vultures (which cannot smell) take advantage of the TV's ability to find carcasses by scent and often repay the TVs by bullying them while feeding.

Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura Photo: USFWS

According to DNA studies, New World Vultures, (Black and Turkey Vultures around here) are more related to storks than raptors. Many people find this hard to envision, but when I picture storks like the Wood Stork and Jabiru , the similarities are very apparent to me. This is called convergent evolution.

Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura Photo: USFS

Did you know that the pH of a vulture's stomach acid is 0 (pH of water is 7)? This makes it very corrosive and allows them to eat rotting flesh that contains bacteria/toxins such as anthrax and botulinum, which would kill just about any other animal. This also allows them to use it as a weapon, for when they feel threatened, they can projectile vomit at their harasser.

I think vultures are cool! Tweet

Hot, but not-so-hot birding

Tweet Despite the forecast, I just had to get outdoors Sunday. So I decided to go hit a couple of spots down on the Ohio River. With the heat, I wasn't expecting much bird wise. The morning started out way too hot and humid - I was already sweating profusely by 9AM.

I checked out Crooked Run Nature Preserve in Clermont Co., Ohio first. It was very dead bird and bug wise, with the best bird being a young Broad-winged Hawk being mobbed by a family of Eastern Kingbirds.

Here is my attempt to photograph a Slender Spreadwing at Crooked Run:

Slender Spreadwing

I then decided to head to my cousin's farm in southern Brown Co. Ohio, but on the way I had found a good sized patch of Swamp Rose Mallow and Swamp Milkweed in a little river inlet. I decided to stop and look around. It was just too marshy to go into. I did see a Giant Swallowtail butterfly winging it high above me, so I decided to look around some more. I could hear a Yellow-breasted Chat and White-eyed Vireo calling on the other side of the inlet, but could never find them. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird was flitting around with some Silver-spotted Skippers on teasel . Other than that, it was just hot and humid. While walking back to the car, I noticed two Great Egrets flying upriver along the far Kentucky shore. When I got back to the car, this bright orangish-yellow wildflower caught my eye. It was growing on the sandy bank (atop a cliff) of the Ohio River.

Most likely Wormseed Wallflower Erysimum cheiranthoides?
Growing in Clermont Co. not too far from the Brown Co. line. 2' high.

For some reason, I tend to have a hard time remembering the names of plants that I have seen before. I usually just think "I know that I know this plant, just can't remember the name" and go on. I couldn't remember having seen this plant before. I could tell it was in the mustard family by looking at its flowers and seed pods, but that's about it. I can't find it in any of my wildflower books and the internet search results are confusing (some kind of wallflower). Is this likely a non-native/garden escape? Comments welcome.

Update: Flower is most likely European Wormseed Wallflower. Thanks goes to Jim McCormac for his botanical expertise.

Butterflies appeared to be more abundant recently with the heat. I guess the cool, damp start to the summer had everything on hold. I finally heard katydids for the first time in a while, it was eerily quiet without them.

Little Wood Satyr

Female Common Whitetail

Had to get back to the A/C!!!

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