VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, [6], 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 19:41:42 12/11/02 Wed
Author: Greg Links
Author Host/IP: NoHost / 205.133.10.244
Subject: Count Week is here...birds to watch for and to report(longish)

The Toledo Christmas Bird Count will be held Sunday, December 15. Thus, tomorrow (December 12) begins Count Week, and it extends through Wednesday, December 18.

Count Week means unusual species should be noted carefully and reported to the Rare Bird Alert, or to Matt Anderson (count compiler) directly. These birds count toward the species total of the Toledo Count.

Normally, the Toledo count is among the highest counts in the state. 90+ species are possible, and we sometimes dream of hitting the 100 mark. It is unlikely this will be the year to challenge the 100 barrier, due to a lack of stake-out rarities, frozen marshes, and absence of northern visitors.

That said, I have created a list of birds that are of interest, and are not a guarantee on count day, and should be looked for specifically this week. Please keep your eyes peeled for the following species, and report them as soon as possible if encountered:

*Common loon-Bayshore best bet

*Horned grebe-ditto

*BC night-heron (increasingly scarce--we SHOULD get this on count day, but you never know)

*Wood duck--will be VERY tough considering the low temps of late

*Ring-necked duck

*any scoter

*Long-tailed duck

*N. harrier (getting scarcer and scarcer)

*Rough-legged hawk (1 seen S. of Pearson Metropark Dec 9)

*Peregrine falcon (old Commodore Perry downtown Toledo)

*Lesser Black-backed gull (1 seen along Lotus st, Erie twnshp, MI today)

*Glaucous gull

*Iceland gull

*Thayers gull

*Any other rare gull

*Long-eared owl (most likely spots: Maumee Bay State Park boardwalk, Lost Peninsula/Point place--swamp forest at end of Shoreland drive)

*N. Saw-whet owl (ditto)

*Short-eared owl (habitat at Maumee Bay State Park no longer good for this species--too brushy;still possible near the base of the sledding hill; other possibilities? I have no idea--maybe some fields between Williston and Genoa)

*Kingfisher--could be tricky with little open water; Warm water outflow at Bayshore may be most likely if everything else is frozen.

*Sapsucker--Uncommon at best in the winter months. Pine groves at Woodlawn cemetery and Ottawa Park are best bets.

*N. shrike-Very poor showing so far this year; Maumee Bay State park, Mallard club seem like best bets. Pockets of habitat virtually anywhere within the count circle could hold one.

*Red-breasted nuthatch- Unreported this fall. See sapsucker for best locations.

*Winter wren- Likes to be near puddles or pools of open water under heavy brush. Used to be fairly reliable in this type of habitat at end of Shoreland drive in Point place/Lost Peninsula MI. Missed last year.

*Eastern bluebird-- Cold temps, and new count circle will make this one tough to come by. Maybe Pearson metropark?

*Hermit thrush- 1 seen at main Spruce grove at Pearson on Dec 9.

*Northern mockingbird- 3 seen on last year's count was quite high. Uncommon, but maybe increasing in numbers. Unfortunately, not reliable in any 1 location within count circle right now. Good bets are Maumee Bay State Park (esp. campground area), Millard street in East Toledo between Front and Otter Creek, the area around Wales rd and E. Broadway in Northwood (near the Waste Management facilities, and other, unexplored southern sections of the circle--south of Walbridge/Moline)

*Cedar Waxwing--Erratic and unreliable; fruiting trees along Summit street in Downtown Toledo, Pearson metropark seem like as good as anywhere.

*Yellow-rumped warbler--likes creek valleys;unfortunatley, there are no longer big wooded creek valleys in the circle, save for Ottawa Park. Also Pearson metropark, and woods just north of Toledo Coast Guard station along Summit street in Point Place.

*Field sparrow- Lurking in brushy fields somewhere;Maumee Bay State Park seems reasonable, other undiscovered pockets of habitat.

*White-throated sparrow- See Field sparrow; check Window on Wildlife at Pearson and MBSP as well; perhaps hanging out at someone's feeders at their home.

*White-crowned sparrow-ditto

*Swamp sparrow- Once January hits, they can be extremely difficult to locate. The January-like temps have me concerned, although several were seen last weekend along the lakeshore. Best bet-cattails along boardwalk at MBSP, as well as Mallard Club Marsh.

*Lapland longspur- Certainly in agricultural fields in southern part of count circle. Try roads that are offshoots of route 795 from Moline to the small hamlet of Martin.

*Snow bunting-ditto. Also the beach at Maumee Bay State Park

*Eastern meadowlark- Will be a real tough one considering the cold temps. Maumee Bay State park the most likely location.

*Yellow-headed blackbird- A rare bird any time of year, but a handful winter in the area. Check fields and feeders in Oregon, south of Maumee Bay State park. Check large blackbird flocks carefully.

* Brewers blackbird--ditto

* Rusty blackbird- Around, but you have to stumble onto them. Same strategy as the other blackbirds.

* Purple finch- Extremely scarce this year. Best places probably a feeder somewhere, or Ottawa park, or Woodlawn cemetery.

* Crossbills- Good luck; Non-existent in Ohio this year, and even places far to the north. Woodlwan cemetery is the historical spot.

* Common redpoll- Again, non-existent this year. Maumee Bay State park seems most likely.

* Pine siskin- the most likely of the finches, but nary a report this fall. We'll be lucky to find any. Pines in Woodlawn the best bet.

*Evening grosbeak- I may as well type Pine grosbeak here; that is, absent from the Toledo count for some time. In this non-invasion year, we'd have to get extremely lucky. Best bets (if you could call them that): Maumee Bay state park as flyovers, the creek valley at Ottawa park along the golf course.

There are other birds like Killdeer and Snipe that seem extremely unlikely due to the weather. An adult Northern goshawk was seen SW of the count circle the other day---that one is remotely possible somewhere. Snowy owl is probably around somewhere.

My fantasy bird for Sunday? Northern gannet. There has been a major invasion of this seabird into the lower Great Lakes this early winter. Wouldn't THAT be a great CBC bird??

Hope you all can join us for a fun day. Remember, we'll be meeting at the Denny's restaurant at I-75 and Buck road at 6:30am. We'll depart from there.

If you are interested in owling, contact me ASAP by calling the NW Ohio Rare bird alert at 419-877-9640. For more details on this, please read the next post!

Greg Links
President
Toledo Naturalists Association

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.