Birding, in black and white

Tweet Well, there are still reports coming in of local Snowy Owls, however they seem to be one hit wonders.  Many birders have gone out looking for them, only to not find anything.  This late in the invasion, that would make sense, as any snowy still down this far south would likely be in grave condition.

This year has been the year of the White-winged Scoter.  I have been seeing a good deal of them reported at many places.  Open water has been hard to find this unusually cold winter.  I had eight on the East Fork CBC last month.  Usually, one isn't able to get good looks at them.  Most of the scoters I have come across birding are a distance.  Well, that is not the case at Lake Isabella in Hamilton, Co., OH.  A fishing lake with an aerator has created a small open area of water very near the dock.  With open water being so hard to find this season, it has been particularly active.  With reports of both scoters and other cool ducks, I had to go check this out.  I am glad I did!

When I first arrived, I spotted the White-winged Scoters right off the dock.  They remained sleeping for a while, so I put my freezing hands in my pockets and waited.

They are awaking!  The adult male looks like he is sticking his tongue out, but it is just its odd shaped/colored bill.

It was very early in the morning and cloudy, so the light was filtered.  I waited, albeit very cold waiting.

It is coming very close!  Yes, that is a hole that you can see right through. You can see right through their nostrils!

What a beautiful duck!  The other two scoters went under the dock and I could hardly see them.  The male just kept swimming closer to me.

and closer still...

I love that eye and bill!  So gorgeous!  Here is a closeup of the face.

And as if this wasn't cool enough, Hooded Mergansers were not that far off displaying to females.  My hands were froze at this point, as I can't take pictures with my gloves on.  If my hands weren't numb from the cold, I could of maybe got shots of the males performing for the females.  I did manage to get a few shots before sprinted for the car.  

More gorgeous black and white ducks - 

It is so cool how just slight changes in his crest fan can change his look.  I think they looks so odd when they have it down.  It makes their eyes look like they are going to pop out of their heads.

The hoodie is special to me, as they have a significant impact on my becoming a birder when I was younger.

Keep watching birds and stay warm!

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Lots of snow, but no snowy owl!

Tweet Haven't been able to spend as much time out birding as I would like to as of late.  My car has required a good deal of maintenance, so I haven't been traveling to see birds as I have in the past.  Plus, I have switched jobs that requires that I work a lot of overtime.

But since I am a birder, I still made time to have birds in my life.  Many good birds were hit and miss this winter, not seeming to stay in one place very long.  This winter has seen the biggest invasion of Snowy Owls that I can remember since I have started birding.  More on that later.

This winter has been a winter.  By that, I mean it has lived up to its name!  Currently, it is 42° here, but it is supposed to be close to -10° by this time tomorrow.  I got out before the brunt of this polar vortex stuff starting coming in back in November of last year.  The minuses are too cold for me to be birding!

I am sure that all of the Eastern Meadowlarks are either gone from the area now, or are hiding very good.  However, I was still surprised to find a good flock of about a dozen or so at a twp. park in late November.

A slight dusting of snow is a herald to what is to come...

When I watched them, they put me in the mind of shorebirds.  From the back, they are very similar.  One particular meadowlark was with a group of starlings.  They feed very much the same way, so they are structurally very similar.  It was say "I am much better looking than the starlings".

I misread a report of a Long-tailed Duck that was on the Ohio River at Medahl Dam back in November.  However, I misread the post and went to East Fork Dam looking for it.  Of course it wasn't there, but I wouldn't have seen this Northern Harrier cruising alongside the car if I didn't head there.  This bird would be one of a few I would see later on, including at least two gray ghost males.  I took this pic out the car window.

In the winter, the rangers close the gate to the top of the hill to the East Fork beach.  This keeps a lot of people with dogs from going down to the beach.  The Bald Eagles take advantage of this lack of disturbance, and if you get lucky, you can catch them perched in a favorite tree to the right of the beach.  I always keep my distance once I spot them.  Always love to watch them!

With all of the reports of Snowy Owls popping up around Ohio, I have been traveling local backroads hoping to get lucky.  Not a Snowy, but I did find a bird that is not easy to find this time of year - a Wilson's Snipe taken out the car window.

East Fork has been slow in the weeks leading up to the Christmas Bird Count.  I did find a Hermit Thrush that I think was intoxicated by the eastern red cedar berries it was consuming.  The bird would just sit there and pant.  I made a noise, and the bird snapped out of it and flew off.

My how the time has gone.  CBC time has come and gone, but not without some awesome birds!

The Cincinnati Count was miserable with cold rain most of the day.  However, I did have point blank looks at a Winter Wren and a FOS flyover Fox Sparrow.  The East Fork count was even better.  The weather was cold, but nice.  Had 4 Cackling Geese for the count.  

Even though these were good, the best birds of the count was a surprise point blank flyover.  I saw some ducks flying from a cove behind us.  As soon as I said ducks, the other birder I was with said "These are something interesting!"  and before I could say Surf Scoters, he says "Surf Scoters!"  Eight of them!   If I just had my camera ready!!!

While traveling the backroads in Brown County for the count, I came across many large flocks of Horned Larks.  I scanned and scanned and could only come up with larks.  Odd, it seems that this year all of the Snow Buntings and longspurs are on the west side.  I did come across one lonely American Pipit.

I love the larks, as I don't see them often.

One lark stayed in the middle of the road as if playing chicken.  It looked up at the car before it flew.

I did find some owls on the count, but not a Snowy Owl.

Here is a Barred Owl from East Fork from the car window.

I did call in an Eastern Screech-owl as well for the count.  I have also learned of a screech owl that hangs out in a hole in a dead tree around the dam area of East Fork  I took my girlfriend to see it and it wasn't visible in its hole.  As we were leaving, we looked out the car window one last time to find that it was there!  It was peering right at us.  I was able to get this fast shot off from the car window.  

But my girlfriend wants me to show her a Snowy Owl.  There was a report and photos of one from Washington Court House.  That is usually too far for me to chase a bird that is not a lifer, but it is a Snowy Owl.  So, we took the drive up there as it was being seen in a Home Depot parking lot and seemed to be and easy to find bird.  Well, we didn't find the owl.  Not soon after the report of this bird, one comes from just down the road to speak from my house!  I had to check this out!  Myself and other birders combed the area pretty extensively, but turned up owless.  I did run across a leucistic Red-shouldered Hawk that may have caused a misID.  

As later I have found out that the WCH snowy has been found dead.  Another bird was brought in to Raptor Inc. from Wilmington, OH.  It also later died.  I know that any bird that would be found this late in the invasion would likely be near death.  I and others would like to think that some make it back to their arctic home, but most will not.  Although we can not stop the owls from coming down, we can use the data gained from the invasion for some good.  I learned of a project to attempt to track snowies via a GPS.  It is called Project Snowstorm.  I urge birders to support this research if they can, as much can be learned.

For now, I will just have to settle for my memory of my lifer Snowy Owl in Duluth, MN in February of 2005.  This was way before the awesome point-and-shoot cameras of today.  Warning:  vintage photo

  

Stay warm and safe in the dangerous weather.  I hope it warms up soon, looking forward to warblers and things!

1/28/2014 Update:  There is a Snowy Owl report now from the Kenwood area.  Odd place, but who knows.  Meanwhile, Snowies have made the local news:

http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/best-year-in-decades-for-spotting-snowy-owls-in-the-tristate/-/13549970/24165476/-/m93sv4/-/index.html

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Some favorite winter birds

Tweet The weather can't seem to make up its mind here in SW Ohio, as we have had our first snowfall of the season as well as a late November round of severe weather including tornado warnings.  With the weather swings, I was hoping something rare would show, but the birding has slowed down at my local haunts.  What is cool about birding is that you don't need to see rarities to have fun.  I have been enjoying some of my favorite winter birds.

If one comes across poison ivy berries this time of year, it is always worth waiting around a while to see what will come in to feast.  This year there seems to be a huge amount of Yellow-rumped Warblers overwintering.  I have had about 30 or so in my yard for a week now.  They love poison ivy!

Chowing down

All the activity around the ivy has also drawn in other birds that were not interested in eating the ivy berries.  I love this Field Sparrow's look and pose.

Nearby, there was a good deal of birds.  I heard a Brown Creeper and turned around to find one.  I just starting pushing the shutter button, not even looking at the bird as I had lost him.  I was lucky to get a good shot of one.  Love this bird. 

Who doesn't love a creeper?

Another favorite winter bird that I got lucky to find the same day was this cute little Winter Wren.  I stood still and the bird just walked through the brush not a few feet from my feet!

It was like it was playing hide n' seek with me.

Golden-crowned Kinglets were flying around high above, they are always hard to get a good shot of.  Here is one just hanging out.  I like the color in this picture, I call it upside down in a sticky situation.

Another one of my favorite birds to run across on a cold winter day is the White-crowned Sparrow.  I remember seeing this bird in my yard when I was young and wondering what it was.  While not considered my spark bird, this bird had a lot to do with my interest in birds at a young age.  

Talking about color!  A royal sparrow it is.  Just look at that face.

It appears that a good deal of the rarer gulls and ducks are still up north.  As I write this, it is fairly mild with south winds.  This weekend is supposed to harbor low temps in the teens with highs in the twenties, so maybe some will move south soon.  Even though it is mild I did find a penguin on the beach at East Fork.  I saw this thing from afar through my binos, thought what is that?

A kids toy.  One never knows what you may find on the beach at East Fork.

On my way back from birding East Fork the other day, I stumbled across a mixed flock of blackbirds in a wet field at the end of my road.  It had a good variety of species.  I was able to pick out Rusty, Red-winged, Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird and European Starling.  Then I spotted something white.  It was a leucistic blackbird.

I am thinking Red-winged or cowbird.  

I am hoping to be able to find some winter owls this winter.  I haven't seen a Saw-whet Owl outside of a banding operation in a long while.  Same goes for Long-eared.  I would also like to run across good views of Short-eared again.  This will be a hard goal to achieve.  Until I find some of the northern owls, I will enjoy the locals.  I spotted this little Eastern Screech-owl sitting in a tree as I was getting in my car at East Fork the other day.  This picture was taken out the car window.  If you look closely, you can see the whiskers (rictal bristles) and the cute little talons.

Make sure you get out and enjoy the birds that are around you and try to take someone new birding or especially a young person.  Remember to always have fun!

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Purple is for kings

Tweet The weather has been very winter like as of late, which usually means that good birds are going to show up.  The Franklin's Gulls that I wrote about in the previous post were just the beginning of what was to come bird wise.  Thanks to the gulls, they brought more birders to East Fork.  I always like to see birders from the west side of Cincinnati here on the east side.  As I was not going to go birding Wednesday, Oct. 23rd due to other commitments, I am glad that a west side birder friend of mine did.  He got lucky and hit the jackpot at East Fork!  The rest just seemed like a blur...

As I was checking the Cincinnati Birds website, I got a call from another birder friend who said that three Purple Sandpipers were currently being seen to the left of the south beach at East Fork.  As that would be a life bird, I dropped what I was doing and grabbed my camera and out the door I went headed to East Fork!

When I got there, there were about five or so birders watching them.  The weather was very cloudy and windy with spitting rain.  I knew they must still have them in view.  I raced down to where they were and was pointed to the birds.  WOW!  A Purple Sandpiper in SW Ohio is a big deal, but 3?  In October?  This would even be early up on Lake Erie.  Even though the lighting was tough, they were still just beautiful birds. They say that purple is for royalty, and this bird is definitely a royal shorebird!   Life bird!

Just awesome!

I went back Friday and could not find the birds.  Later that evening, a local birder friend refound one bird in the same spot.  I watched it with another birder until dark.  A stray cat came down and stalked the bird, and me and the other birder chased it far away.  

Saturday, the sun was shining, so I was hoping to get some better views and pictures of the Purple Sandpiper.  It is such a nice looking bird, plus I was wanting to see a hint of that purple sheen.  The one lone sandpiper was still there and very cooperative.  

It walked kind of funny sometimes.  I love shorebirds.

There were other birds around as well, including a couple of Dunlin.  

Sunday, I was back at East Fork.  The Purple Sandpipers could not be found.  A good number of birders were there.  I love seeing all the birder action down here.  I met a lot of new birders, always fun.  I was even asked by one for an autograph!  That was a first.  I love sharing my knowledge and love of birds with others on my blog and out in the field.

While talking to a newly made birder friend, a small bird popped up and back down in some vegetation very near the rocky beach edge.  

I had an idea as to what it is, but I couldn't see enough for a positive ID.  Then a couple with a dog came very near and the bird popped out for about 3 seconds.

Vesper Sparrow!

I see them in the spring, but not often during fall migration.  Pretty bird.

As the weather seems to be in a lull, another powerful cold front is slated to slam into here with wind and rain Friday.  I wonder what goodies this one might bring?  If you are a birder in Ohio or near Ohio, make sure you bird after these cold fronts, as you never know what might show up!  Good birding and have fun! 

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Cold air, good birds

Tweet The birding had been rather slow for early October, with SW winds and warmer temps dominating.  Not much change in the happenings of birds on the beach at East Fork.  Smaller birds such as Juncos and Sparrows have arrived locally per reports, but I have yet to come across any.  I did hear a Winter Wren a couple of weeks ago.  Also, I have been working mornings and haven't been able to get out to look for passerines much.

Back during the first week of October, another birder and I took a walk back to the man made wetlands/bike trail on the other side of East Fork Lake.  We thought we heard a Marsh Wren, but could not confirm.  We did see this immature Rose-breasted Grosbeak migrating through.

Flickers seem to be everywhere as of late, and they are always nice to see.  Love their colors.

Always take time to admire the common birds!  Like this immature Ring-billed Gull.

As it is now mid October, the cold has finally arrived.  We had our first frost this past morning here.  It looks like the cold is here to stay, with reinforcing cold fronts lined up.  This could only mean that the dam should break open for some good birds.

This afternoon/evening, I decided to check the beach at East Fork.  I find it as the best time to get the best idea of what is around the lake gull wise, as they all fly in to roost on the beach just before dark.  When I arrived, there were people with cameras and children chasing the gull flock back and forth.  I didn't expect much.  I took up a position on the beach that provided the best light.  After a while, the people faded away briefly and the gull flock positioned itself right in front of me.  

I noticed a dark winged type of hooded looking gull way out over the water, but it would not land with all the commotion on the beach.  I kept watching, and finally it came in to rest.  Oh, I know this gull!

The guy in the background was chasing the gulls when I first arrived, I don't know what he was photographing.  Kind of defines the birding at East Fork.  

With the Common Tern that has been hanging out on the beach. ^

As I was looking at the Franklin's in the BACKGROUND through my camera, I zoomed out to notice that there was another Franklin's right at my feet!

The light was fading fast, so the quality of photos degrades.

I took the camera away from my face and rescanned the flock.  I see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 FRANKLIN'S GULLS!  

I couldn't get a shot of all of them, as they were scattered about the flock and people were still very close - so the birds kept shuffling.

The guy in the first picture got up, scattering the gulls off the beach.

Here is a photo of the SIX Franklin's Gulls flying off into the darkness.

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An early winter?

Tweet It is early fall and the temperatures are still pretty mild.  There has been little change in the composition of bird species on the beach at East Fork.  Vultures have temporarily taken up residence on the beach in the morning.  This may have something to do with the lack of shorebirds, but I doubt it.

The turkey vultures were protecting their garbage can from me.  Something must have been tasty in there!

As I got closer, one of them spread their wings and started hissing.

 Least and semipalmated sandpipers along with five sanderlings have been on the beach for a while.  Here are three of the sanderlings flying.

I have been seeing both osprey and bald eagles fishing the lake, but they have not been very cooperative for me photo wise.  This immature bald eagle was perched right above my head for a while.  A person walked between me and this bird, causing it to fly.  

But the real surprise came today.  While I was talking with another birder, waiting for an osprey, eagle, or something good to come by, I noticed a small bird flying above that landed in the brushy weeds in front of us.  I thought I could see white outer tail feathers at first, but I couldn't tell.  At first, I heard no sounds other than a chip.  The bird stayed in the thick weeds for about an hour.  I could see orange on the face of the bird, so I got excited.  This is about the time of year that maybe my lifer LeConte's Sparrow would come through.  I could only see the head mostly.  This was about as good as it got for a long while:

The bird's head is in the center.  From this view, it was hard to tell what it was.  I was still hoping that it would show enough for an ID of LeConte's Sparrow.

Another birder and I watched the bird for a while.  I was going to leave the bird unIDed and hope to see if the other birder got better pics than I.  I decided to stick around and check the beach just one more time before I left.  The other birder had done left.  When I came back to the spot the bird was earlier, a man with a dog was very near here.  The bird flew up and landed right in front of me.  

What the heck?  I thought.  It is 81° and not even October yet.  Can't be.

and then, the bird flew a bit and landed on a stick.

It has to be.  I can see the bird's namesake! 

I then said to myself:  If it would just fly to a rock in the open by the water, I could confirm my ID.  And, it wasn't long after, the bird did just that!

Yep!  Look at that long spur!  Definitely a Lapland Longspur!!!  But what is one doing down here so early?  Local records show that this bird is about 2-3 weeks early.  Is this a sign of an early winter?  Don't know.  Maybe it will be a good year for what I consider to be snowbirds (Snow buntings and Lapland Longspurs)?

Very nice colors in the sun!  

For local birders hoping to find this bird, it has been hanging in the patch of vegetation on the left hand side of the beach, the same spot that the upland sandpiper was.  

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