Your Week In Review

For the week of April 15th, through April 21st, this is your week in review.

Spring migration is in full bloom as more and more of our beautiful Spring migrants arrive around the Tri-state in our typical hotspots. But you better be prepared to know your bird calls since the majority of the trees are leafed out. Being able to ID a Warbler in the top of a totally leafed out tree will require both sight and sound skills. The Ferruginous Hawk is still being seen over at CVG with no sign of it leaving, so if you’ve not seen this bird as of yet, plan a trip before it leaves. We also had 48 hours of excitement as a Black-necked Stilt was sighted at Ellis Lake. And once again this blogger was able to see it and get some pictures as well. Also Caesar Creek had it’s own excitement as both Lesser Black-backed Gull and Surf Scoters were seen earlier this week.

This has got to be the largest “location” list I’ve typed for this column ever and this is just a prelude of what it”ll be like in weeks to come. So to quote Samuel L. Jackson in the movie Jurassic Park, “Hold on to your butts”, here’s the list of where our birders visited this week. Shawnee Lookout, Crooked Run Nature Preserve, Fairview Park, Ault Park, Magrish Riverland Preserve, California Woods, East Fork S.P., Caesar Creek S.P., Hueston Woods S.P., Cowan Lake S.P., The Oxbow, Miami Whitewater Forest, Winton Woods, Smith Tract Park, Fernald Preserve, Eden Park, Spring Valley Wildlife Area, CVG, Ellis Lake/ West Chester Wetlands, Armleder Park, Sharon Woods, Grand Valley, Avoca Trailhead Park, Lake Isabella, and Glenwood Gardens.

Neighborhoods reporting in include: Felicity, Kenwood, Landen, Lawrenceburg Road, Milford, Newtown, Clifton, Maderia, United American Cemetery, Owensville, Oxford, West Wood, Morrow, and Williamsburg.

Notable birds for the week include:

Accipitriformes

1. Bald Eagle
2. Ferruginous Hawk
3. Broad-winged Hawk
4. Osprey
5. Sharp-shinned Hawk

Falconiformes

1. American Kestrel

Pelecaniformes

1. Great Egret
2. Green Heron

Charadriiformes

1. Pectoral Sandpiper
2. Black-necked Stilt
3. Wilson’s Snipe
4. Solitary Sandpiper
5. Lesser Yellowleg
6. Greater Yellowleg
7. Spotted Sandpiper
8. Dunlin
9. Short-billed Dowitcher
10. Forster’s Tern
11. Caspian tern
12. Least Tern
13. Lesser Black-backed Gull
14. Bonaparte’s Gull
15. Semi-palmated Plover

Anseriformes

1. Ring-necked Duck
2. Surf scoter
3. Wood Duck
4. Green-winged Teal
5. Blue-winged Teal
6. Red-breasted Merganser
7. Northern Shoveler

Strigiformes

1. Great Horned Owl

Piciformes

1. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
2. Pileated Woodpecker
3. Downy Woodpecker
4. hairy Woodpecker
5. Red-bellied Woodpecker
6. Red-headed Woodpecker

Gruiformes

1. Virginia Rail

Galliformes

1. Wild Turkey

Apodiformes

1. Chimney Swift
2. Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Podicipediformes

1. Horned Grebe
2. Pied-billed Grebe

Passeriformes

1. Great-crested Flycatcher
2. Horned Lark
3. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
4. Orchard Oriole
5. Baltimore Oriole
6. Brown Thrasher
7. Eastern Kingbird
8. Eastern Phoebe
9. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
10. Wood Thrush
11. Rusty Blackbird
12. Purple Finch
13. Scarlet Tanager
14. Yellow-throated Vireo
15. White-eyed Vireo
16. Red-eyed Vireo
17. Warbling Vireo
18. Brown Creeper
19. Red-breasted Nuthatch
20. Tree Swallow
21. Barn Swallow
22. Norther Rough-winged Swallow
23. Nashville Warbler
24. Yellow-rumped Warbler
25. Common Yellowthroat
26. Cerulean Warbler
27. Prothonotary Warbler
28. Yellow-breasted Chat
29. Kentucky Warbler
30. Black-throated Green warbler
31. Louisiana Waterthrush
32. Black and White Warbler
33. Northern Parula
34. Tennessee Warbler
35. Yellow-throated warbler
36. Pine Warbler
37. Blue-winged Warbler
38. Prairie Warbler
39. Palm Warbler
40. Houose Wren
41. Field Sparrow
42. Chipping Sparrow
43. Savannah Sparrow
44. vesper Sparrow
45. Song Sparrow
46. Swamp Sparrow
47. White-throated Sparrow
48. White-crowned Sparrow

For a detailed listing of the weeks postings, please go to www.cincinnatibirds.com

So as we end this week in review, keep on birding, and don’t forget to post your sightings.

 

Notes From The Field

Daniel Drake Park, California Woods, Magrish Riverlands Preserve, Armleder Park, Avoca Trailhead Park, & Grand Valley

If you haven’t noticed by now, yesterdays field trip involved following the Little Miami River north from California Woods, and ending at Grand Valley. Granted Daniel Drake Park doesn’t border the Little Miami, however it is on the way, so I stopped there first. Several weeks ago a Pine Warbler was sighted there, so I thought I’d see if the bird was still there. They have a nice stand of Evergreens which would entice me if I was a Pine Warbler.

Now there’s something about Pine Warblers that drives me nuts. They sound almost identical to Chipping Sparrows. So for over an hour I chased down every song that sounded like a Pine Warbler, only to find it to be another Chipping Sparrow. A Pine Warbler was later spotted at Avoca Trailhead.

From there it was a short drive to California Woods to try and find another target bird for the day, a Louisiana Waterthrush. Lick Run Creek runs through this 113 acre heavily wooded forest. And it’s along this creek that I hope to find the Waterthrush. I’ve seen Waterthrush here in the past, and some recent sightings has given me confidence that I’ll spot at least one. I hope. For 30 minutes I walked up and down the road hearing and see everything but a Louisiana Waterthrush. I didn’t want to get too far away from the creek and hike up into the woods, even as tempting as it looked. At one point I went back to the bird-mobile and reacquainted myself with it’s song. 2 minutes later I hear the song coming from the nature center. The song was loud and clear and constant. I had it cornered in a bend of the creek prior to the bridge when it flew to a nearby tree and continued to sing. Getting a proper ID on it was the easy part, getting a picture was different. Like most Warblers, they don’t like to sit still long enough for photos. Digi-binning a was out of the question, so I pulled out my other camera and took this photo.

I wish the Waterthrush was as cooperative as this Eastern Towhee.

2 minutes after leaving California Woods, I pull into Magrish Riverlands Preserve. This is one of my favorite spots for migrant Warblers and with the dry weather we’ve had lately, it should be relatively dry. Well I was correct on the dry part. For the hour I spent here I would have thought the birding would be better than it was. Picking up a couple FOS birds, I made my way to Armleder Park, where the bulk of the day I was going to spend.

Armleder Park was a bustle of activity as I pulled in. I think every dog owner in Cincinnati had their dogs romping in the enclosed dog parks. That’s right they have 2 of them now. I guess it’s like an overflow parking lot for dogs.  Families were out in force with young ones in tow as they biked, hiked, skated, their way around the paved paths that loop around and through the park. For myself it was onto the “Bean Field”. And what do my wondering eyes should appear, but Great Egrets.

As the Sun rose higher, the morning frost finally melted away and more layers of clothing peeled off. Getting along into the late morning and early afternoon my target birds of Savannah and Vesper Sparrows were becoming harder to find. I did find one Savannah Sparrow as it hide under a bush.

Savannah Sparrow

I dipped on the Vesper Sparrow but I did have some luck with 2 fly over Rusty Blackbirds. I did find one Song Sparrow that held still long enough for me to get these 2 pretty good pictures.

The Tree Swallows were everywhere today. Laying claim to empty Bluebird houses, they were easy to photograph as they lighted on the post that held up the bird house.

With a couple of hours till needing to be back home I left Armleder Park and followed the river to Avoca Trailhead Park. Situated along the bike trail this is a small park with river access. Plus it has a lot of potential for some good birding. This is where I picked up a Pine and Yellow-throated Warbler. With one more stop before home I left Avoca Trailhead Park on my way to Grand Valley. Which turned out to be rather disappointing. If there were any ducks on the lake they were all scared off by the fisherman and children playing. I was able to spot one lone Horned Grebe which I thought was a great find considering.

Notable birds for the day include:

1. Mourning Dove
2. Rock Dove
3. Northern Cardinal
4. Tufted Titmouse
5. Carolina Chickadee
6. Blue Jay
7. White-throated Sparrow
8. White-crowned Sparrow
9. Song Sparrow
10. Savannah Sparrow
11. Field Sparrow
12. Chipping Sparrow
13. House Sparrow
14. House Finch
15. American Goldfinch
16. Common Grackle
17. Common Crow
18. Rusty Blackbird
19. Red-winged Blackbird
20. Canada Goose
21. American Robin
22. American Coot
23. Mallard
24. Wood Duck
25. Blue-winged Teal
26. Great Egret
27. Great Blue Heron
28. Lesser Yellowleg
29. Pectoral Sandpiper
30. Killdeer
31. Bank Swallow
32. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
33. Barn Swallow
34. Tree Swallow
35. Eastern Towhee
36. Louisiana Waterthrush
37. Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler
38. Pine Warbler
39. Downy Woodpecker
40. Red-bellied Woodpecker
41. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
42. Brown-headed Cowbird
43. Carolina Wren
44. Cooper’s Hawk
45. Red-tailed Hawk
46. Turkey Vulture
47. Eastern Meadowlark
48. Horned Grebe
49. Pied-billed Grebe
50. Northern Mockingbird
51. Belted Kingfisher

Your Week In Review

For the week of March 25th, through March 31st, this is your week in review.

Early migrants are still the dominate birds, making a strong showing as we continue with the unseasonably warmer weather. Wading birds are starting to been seen in small numbers in the usual hotspots familiar to tri-state birders. There’s so much good bird action going on that this blogger is having a difficult time keeping up. This could turn out to be a fast and furious Spring, that I’m sure everyone is excited about.

Area parks where our birders visited include: Caesar Creek S.P., East Fork S.P., Hueston Woods S.P., Miami Whitewater Forest, Fernald Preserve, Grand Valley, Spring Valley Wildlife Area, Sharon Woods, Winton Woods, Ellis Lake/ West Chester Wetlands, Chilo Lock #34, Armleder Park, Gulley Park and California Woods.

Neighborhoods reporting in include: Felicity, Newtown, Clifton, Goshen, New Richmond, and Miami Twp.

Notable birds for the week include:

Accipitriformes

1. Rough-legged Hawk
2. Northern Harrier
3. Red-tailed Hawk

Falconiformes

1. American Kestrel

Strigiformes

1. Barred Owl
2. Barn Owl

Charadriiformes

1. Pectoral Sandpiper
2. Greater Yellowleg
3. Lesser Yellowleg
4. Wilson’s Snipe
5. American Woodcock

Ciconiiformes

1. American Bittern

Gruiformes

1. Sora

Pelecaniformes

1. Great Egret

Piciformes

1. Northern Flicker
2. Red-bellied Woodpecker
3. Downy Woodpecker
4. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Gaviiformes

1. Common Loon

Anseriformes

1. Wood Duck
2. Northern Shoveler
3. Bufflehead
4. Blue-winged Teal
5. Red-breasted Merganser
6. Hooded Merganser
7. American Wigeon
8. Red Head
9. Ring-necked Duck
10. Ruddy Duck
11. Surf Scoter
12. Gadwall
13. Greater White-fronted Goose

Passeriformes

1. Blue-headed Vireo
2. Yellow-throated Warbler
3. Louisiana Waterthrush
4. Barn Swallow
5. Hermit Thrush
6. Tree Swallow
7. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
8. Brown Thrasher
9. Eastern Phoebe
10. Yellow-rumped Warbler
11. Marsh Wren

For a detailed listing of the weeks postings, please go to www.cincinnatibirds.com

So as we end this week in review, keep on birding, and don’t forget to post your sightings.

Your Week In Review

For the week of February 26th, through March 3rd, this is your week in review.

When they say that March comes in like a Lion, they weren’t kidding. My heart felt sympathy goes out to all the victims of the recent tornado outbreak. Even in my little corner of Ohio, we had some pretty gnarly weather. And with this topsy-turvy weather, we had an average week of birding. Area parks where our birders visited include Grand Valley, Gunpowder Creek Nature Park, Mitchell Memorial Forest, Armleder Park, Miami Whitewater Forest, Crooked Run Nature Preserve, Lake Isabella, Caesar Creek S.P., and Fernald Preserve. Neighborhoods where birders reported from include Downtown Cincy., Loveland, Campbell County Ky., New Richmond, South Lebanon, Hebron Ky., and Williamsburg.

Notable birds for the week include:

Accipitriformes

1. Bald Eagle
2. Northern Harrier
3. Black Vulture
4. Red-shouldered Hawk
5. Red-tailed Hawk

Falconiformes

1. Peregrine Falcon

Strigiformes

1. Great Horned Owl

Charadriiformes

1. American Woodcock

Piciformes

1. Pileated Woodpecker
2. Red-bellied Woodpecker
3. Downy Woodpecker

Anseriformes

1. Surf Scoter
2. White-winged Scoter
3. Common Goldeneye
4. Lesser Scaup
5. Greater Scaup
6. Mallard
7. Northern Pintail
8. American Black Duck
9. Northern Shoveler
10. Ring-necked Duck
11. Hooded Merganser
12. Wood Duck
13. Gadwall
14. Snow Goose

Passeriformes

1. Eastern Meadowlark
2. Red-winged Blackbird
3. Golden-crowned Kinglet
4. Brown Creeper
5. Horned Lark
6. Tree Swallow
7. Field Sparrow
8. Song Sparrow
9. Swamp Sparrow
10. Chipping Sparrow
11. Pine warbler
12. White-throated Sparrow
13. Common Redpoll

For a detailed listing of the weeks postings, please go to www.cincinnatibirds.com

So as we end this week in review, keep on birding, an

Your Week In Review

For the week of January 29th, through February 4th, this is your week in review.

Don’t you love it when the weather warms up and the birders start to get busy. Except for yours truly, where work has exhausted me and previously made plans are keeping me close to home. This to will change with the coming weekend. Area birders were out in force for the first time in a while and with the warmer temps we’ve had our first sighting of American Woodcocks. Besides the vocalization they were able to witness their aerial display which in itself is a beautiful sight to behold. Besides the Woodcocks, Raptors, Ducks and Woodpeckers gave a good accounting of themselves this week.

Area parks where our birders visited include: Fernald Preserve, Mitchell Memorial Forest, Spring Grove Cemetery, Spring Valley State Wildlife Area, Caesar Creek S.P., East Fork S.P., Armleder Park, French Park, Grand Valley, Roxanna-New Burlington Quarry Pits, and Crooked Run State Nature Preserve.

Only 2 neighborhood reported in and they include Felicity and New Richmond.

Notable birds for the week include:

Accipitriformes

1. Bald Eagle
2. Northern Harrier
3. Red-shouldered Hawk
4. Red-tailed Hawk
5. Sharp-shinned Hawk

Falconiformes

1. American Kestrel
2. Merlin
3. Peregrine Falcon

Strigiformes

1. Great Horned Owl
2. Barred Owl

Charadriiformes

1. American Woodcock
2. Wilson’s Snipe

Podicipediformes

1. Pied-billed Grebe
2. Horned Grebe

Gaviiformes

1. Common Loon

Piciformes

1. Downy Woodpecker
2. Hairy Woodpecker
3. Red-bellied Woodpecker
4. Red-headed Woodpecker
5. Pileated Woodpecker
6. Northern Flicker
7. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Anseriformes

1. American Wigeon
2. Ruddy Duck
3. Greater Scaup
4. Lesser Scaup
5. Green-winged Teal
6. Bufflehead
7. Common Goldeneye
8. Northern Shoveler
9. American Black Duck
10. Northern Pintail
11. Red-breasted Merganser
12. Hooded Merganser
13. Tundra Swan

Passeriformes

1. White-throated Sparrow
2. White-crowned Sparrow
3. Fox Sparrow
4. Song Sparrow
5. American Tree Sparrow
6. Horned Lark
7. Red-breasted Nuthatch
8. Brown Creeper
9. Purple Finch

For a detailed listing of the weeks postings, please go to www.cincinnatibirds.com

So as we end this week in review, keep on birding, and don’t forget to post your sightings.

Notes From The Field

Grand Valley, Riverside Park, Armleder Park

Ice storms have a tendency to change even the most thought out plans. Needless to say our plans to travel to Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area has been put on hold till better weather. However it didn’t stop our valiant group, consisting of Phil, John and myself from venturing out once the road conditions improved. We kept it local so as not to press our luck. Even at the 11 o’clock hour the roads out in my neck of the woods were still crappy, but we made good time as we meet up with John at Grand Valley. As you might recall I was there on the 15th and we had excellent waterfowl activity. Not the case today as pickings were pretty slim. However I was able to click off a few images of our National Bird.

We scoped out both North and South pools of the lake, then took a walk in the Camp Dennison Nature Trail. Footing was treacherous as we watched our feet more than the birds. It didn’t matter anyway, there wasn’t too much activity in the woods so we made our way back to our vehicles and motored our way to Riverside Park in Newtown. John had heard that there was a Cackling Goose sighted there, and being so close we were there in no time.

As we pulled into the parking lot to our right there are some soccer fields and about 60 Canada Geese feeding. Cackling Geese our not very common and I’ve only seen them a couple of times. And those times they were on the water and pretty far away. So with 3 sets of eyes scanning this flock we re-located them pretty quickly.

This is a closer view of the above picture. As you can see the Cackling Goose has a much shorter bill and a shorter neck. They’re just a miniature version of their larger cousin.

Feelin’ pretty good with ourselves with this discovery, we made our way to Armleder Park for our last stop. Phil has never been here before, and even with the icy conditions we thought no better time than now to check it out. Everything was iced over, even the mud as we hiked back to the bean field. It was at the bean field we discovered where all the Ring-billed Gulls gather when the weather turns. a huge flock was gathered on the opposite side of the water.

We walked the southern portion of the park, staying on the grass along the paved path since the asphalt was a skating rink. The last thing we need a for someone to fall and break a hip. I know how they fix them, and it’s not pretty!

Sparrows were the highlight of Armleder as were the 4 Eastern Meadowlarks we spooked up on the way back to our cars. We ended the day around 2:30 with a pretty good day considering. We didn’t set any new records for total birds seen, but really, it’s not just about the birds.

Notable birds for the day include:

1. American Coot
2. Pied-billed Grebe
3. Bald Eagle
4. Greater Scaup
5. Mallard
6. Bufflehead
7. Hooded Merganser
8. Ring-billed Gull
9. Rock Dove
10. Canada Goose
11. Cackling Goose
12. American Tree Sparrow
13. Song Sparrow
14. Savannah Sparrow
15. Lincoln Sparrow
16. White-crowned Sparrow
17. Red-winged blackbird
18. Eastern Goldfinch
19. Great Blue Heron
20. Eastern Meadowlark
21. Killdeer
22. Carolina Chickadee
23. Tufted Titmouse
24. Common Crow
25. Northern Cardinal
26. Northern Flicker
27. White-breasted Nuthatch
28. Red-tailed Hawk
29. American Robin
30. Mourning Dove