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January and February 2001

The Findlay Varied Thrush was still present Saturday the 24th - Bernard Master. The Holden Arboretum Townsend's Solitaire and Red Crossbills were a no show last Friday - Judie Gause - Holden Arboretum staff. My last report of the Apple Creek Harris's Sparrow is for last Tuesday - David and Sally Isacco. Four of the Greater White-fronted Geese at Funk Bottoms W.A. remained through Saturday - Su Snyder. Last week's Ross's Goose was not seen after the 20th - Scott Reeves.

A Ross's Goose was discovered yesterday by Doug Overacker in Old Reid Park just outside of Springfield (Clark Co.). This small park consists of several duck ponds and should afford excellent viewing of the species. Indeed, a Snow Goose is also present for comparison. The park is accessed off the road immediately below the dam at C.J.Brown Reservoir. Consult Delorme map page 66 quad A3. The bird was seen yesterday afternoon and this morning around 9:00 am - Randel Rogers.

The weekend was fruitful for all other Ohio rarities reported in recent weeks. After almost three weeks of silence, the Findlay Varied Thrush was reported still present at the feeder yesterday - Bill & Roxanne Rinehart. The Apple Creek (Wayne Co.) Harris's Sparrow was enjoyed by many over the weekend; reported yesterday by Dave St. John. Likewise the Holden Arboretum Townsend's Solitaire delighted many observers through yesterday - as cooperative as ever. The nearby Red Crossbills feeding in the Ponderosa Pine near the visitor center were also widely viewed over the weekend.

The Townsend's Solitaire remains content at Holden Arboretum.
Note the Northern Mockingbird at top.

A minor ID note: The greater coverts are broadly tipped ("frosted") white; clearly seen above. In the Golden guide these are depicted as orange. In the 3rd ed. of National Geographic Guide they are uniformly dark gray. - curious - V.W.F.III

Friday's tremendous warm front and associated SW'ly winds brought unequivocal spring migration to the region. Among the more unusual species, two flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese. Five birds set down on Cowan Lake in Clinton Co. last Thursday - Larry Gara but could not be relocated Friday. Saturday, several birds appeared in the northeast at Funk Bottoms W.A. (Wayne Co.) - Su Snyder et al. with that number growing to 10 this morning - V.W.F.III et al.

The Holden Arboretum Townsend's Solitaire was present through yesterday - Haans Petruschke. It remains a very approachable bird. Haans further reports the Red Crossbills can still be found in the pines near the visitor center. The Apple Creek (Wayne Co.) Harris's Sparrow was still present this morning - V.W.F.III.

Dan Sanders reports the Townsend's Solitaire still present yesterday at Holden Arboretum.

Courtesy Bob Royse, the pages depicting the 28 January gull bonanza have been expanded. Bob's photographic work adds a an interesting pale Herring Gull with a Thayer's like underwing.

The Clinton County Snowy Owl has received national press courtesy CNN

Here is that Indigo Bunting that has been visiting a feeder at the Cincinnati Nature Center. This digital camera shot was taken by Brett Gilmore (Environmental Educator) yesterday through his office window. This is the second year in a row for a wintering Indigo Bunting in Ohio; understandable during last year's warmth, less so this year. Follow the link at left to Ned Keller's webboard to catch up on the history of this year's sighting.

I have stopped fiddling with the gull page noted below. Fiddling with such pages being my favorite pasttime, next to birding in the real world, it took some effort to tear myself away. The current build should remain stable for the time being. If you have an interest in visiting the Lake Erie shoreline this weekend you may wish to check out these images.

I was thinking of decking out the screen space in Lesser Black-backed Gull shots but hey they're dime-a-dozen nowadays. Consider that Sunday, I accompanied Jed Burtt's ornithology class locating at least 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. And how many Greats did we see all day? - FIVE!. I think we may have given a few first timers the wrong impression as to which is supposed to be the more common black-backed gull in Ohio. Consider this time three years ago about 3000 Great Black-backed Gulls could be found lounging along the south shore of Lake Erie. Anyway here's a token LBBG from Sunday's Larid largesse at E72nd St.

A 2nd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull

The Holden Arboretum Townsend's Solitaire was still present as of this morning (fide Arboretum staff - check in with the staff at 1-440-946-4400 for updates).

The Apple Creek Harris's Sparrow was present Monday for Sean Zadar. The Grand Rapids Harlequin Duck was still present Tuesday - Art Osborn. The Findlay Varied Thrush was present yesterday - Gary Meszaros.

The Clinton Co. Snowy Owl is still present however Larry Gara has these words of advice

Tonight's Wilmington News Journal has a front page story about the "problems" the Snowy Owl is causing. Too many people, too many cars parked at times on both sides of Accomodation Road. Some of the sheriff deputies are getting rough and ticketing anyone parked along the side of the road.
If you still want to see the Owl, I suggest avoiding weekends if possible and parking in the field which is on the right side of Accomodation Road if coming in from Farmers Road. The owner does not mind or at least he used to be willing to have parking there. If the field is too mushy or not available then park along the side of Crouse Road which is about a quarter block further down of Farmers Road on the right and walk back to see the Owl. This road is less used though the deputy might also make people move from it. Unless you have not seen the Owl I would suggest you avoid the hassles that are developing especially on weekends - Larry Gara

There are other Snowy Owls around. From at least 28 December through 11 January, a bird was present at the Rt 53 and Rt. 23 interchange immediately north of Upper Sandusky (Wyandot Co.). The bird was initially seen in field along the side road 147 but has subsequently been seen to the south side of Rt. 23. I suspect the bird is still present - reports from the area have simply dried up. Another Snowy Owl was present along the southern edge of Resthaven W.A. (Erie/Sandusky Co. line) 27 December but I have had no followup of that observation either.

Elsewhere: A Northern Shrike was found along T5R7 in Hancock Co. just west of the Rawson village limits yesterday - Wilma Seiler.

The Castalia Long-tailed Duck was still present Sunday - Tom Bartlett. Below is a digital camera image of the bird taken by Tom.



This bird has been variously identified as a female or male. If the pale tip coming in here is pink then a 1st year male is the correct identification. The black collar is also a bit heavy for a female.

The Holden Arboretum Townsend's Solitaire was present as recently as mid-day today. With the photograph below, this becomes only the second solitaire to be photographed in Ohio.



Photo courtesy John Pogacnik. John is obviously having fun with his new digital camera. This image was shot through a KOWA scope with 20x eyepiece. It has been enlarged about 50% over the original.

Here is a synopsis of the most recent reports of rarities in the state:

As yet to be confirmed Northern Hawk-Owl was reported Wednesday in the vicinity of Killdeer Plains W.A. (Wyandot Co.). The original report can be read off Tom Thompson's website (link on the left). Contra that initial report, look for the bird along the dikes of Pond 27. Thorough searches by multiple parties this morning were unsuccessful in relocating the bird.

Present since Wednesday and confirmed yesterday, a Townsend's Solitaire can be seen at Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Lake Co. Check in at the visitor center for directions to the bird. My last report is for mid-afternoon today - John Pogacnik.

The Findlay (Hancock Co.) Varied Thrush was last seen today - Ernie Limes et al.

The Apple Creek (Wayne Co.) Harris's Sparrow was last reported on the 12th - Nick Barber.

The Grand Rapids (on the Maumee R. Lucas Co.) Harlequin Duck was last reported the 16th - Randel Rogers.

I have a preliminary build of pages with a few photographs from yesterday of the white-winged and other gulls at E.72nd St. in Cleveland. Many more to come.

Townsend's Solitaire (m.obs.) and Harlequin Duck (Zac Baker) seen yesterday. My directions on the duck may have been a bit confusing - the bird was 300 yards upstream - I only walked about 40 yards from the Marathon Station next to which I had parked. Two Red Crossbills also continue at Holden Arboretum yesterday - Haans Petruschke.

Last report for the Wayne Co. Harris's Sparrow was for Saturday - Peter Gottschling, Doreene Linzell et al.. I got a good look at the Castalia Long-tailed Duck yesterday (55XKOWA at 50ft) - the bill is entirely gray and plumage characters all indicate a typical female. I interpret the paleness in the digital image below as an artifact of lighting or the digital process.

The weekend gulling was very productive for many parties - I'll have more on that by noon tomorrow when I should have some photos developed.

In his bid for a January Century Jason Larson reports 3 Long-eared Owls, 3 Short-eared Owls, up to 8 Rough-legged Hawks (half dark morph), 18 Eastern Meadowlarks, and 14 Northern Harriers for Saturday. I think Jason was at 99 Ohio species for month - not bad for a real winter. Bill Shively had the same result for Rough-legged Hawk earlier on Thursday while yesterday Northern Harrier numbers for Ron Sempier reached 19 (7 m., 12 f.)

The Apple Creek (Wayne Co.) Harris's Sparrow was still present yesterday afternoon. Ron Kolde reports the bird was in the company of American Tree Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows in the vicinity of Schlabach Engines.

The Holden Arboretum Townsend's Solitaire was still present yesterday - Martha Rogers as was the Clinton Co. Snowy Owl - Jason Larson

The Findlay Varied Thrush came into the feeder for a 5 minute visit around 9:10 this morning. A richly colored male "Oregon" Junco was visiting the same feeder - V.W.F.III.

As easy as the bird was to photograph no doubt better shots exist, but this is what I managed this morning - V.W.F.III

The Grand Rapids Harlequin Duck was found this morning (10:45) 300 yards upstream from the railroad bridge. Viewing was best from the south side of the river, parking immediately east of the Marathon station. Walk upstream to the sidecut canal. The bird was in the company of 4 Mallards around the edge of an island in the middle of the river. A Great Blue Heron and 6 Common Mergansers were nearby. - V.W.F.III

The Castalia Long-tailed Duck is still present this afternoon. Turnover of waterfowl is frequent at Castalia. Where yesterday there were 20 Northern Pintails, 128 Gadwalls, 5 Ring-necked Ducks, today half the number of pintails and Gadwall were noted, the Ring-necked Ducks were absent, the Bufflehead number doubled to 8, and two Mute Swans were in attendance.- V.W.F.III

Easing into the new year . . . here is an interesting bird even if it is a gull . . . an apparent pink-legged Lesser Black-backed Gull at Lorain, Lorain Co. 16 December.

Click on the image for a 100K enlargement.



Photo courtesy John Pogacnik. This image was obtained by holding a digital camera up to a scope for a pretty fair result.

maintained by Victor W. Fazio III / last modified 26 Nov. 2000