Pigeonthe passenger Local Christmas Count results

The most famous owls in Cincinnati

Papa, what’s a slide projector?

January 2011Vol. 47, No. 1

Blue Jay © Allan Claybon

2

Snow Bunting © Lana Hays

JANU

ARY Below we are reprinting an ex-

cerpt of “A Birder’s Almanac”, written by Bill Whan. Bill, a long-time Ohio birder and member of the state bird records committee, is an authority on the birds of Ohio. The almanac traces the migratory patterns of birds through the state of Ohio, month by month. The full text can be viewed online at: http://www.ohiobirds.org/calendar/alma-nac/introduction.php

Short days and cold nights dom-inate the environment in January. Birds are physiologically well suit-ed to endure low temperatures, but cold weather can adversely affect their food supplies. With persistent deep snow, ground foragers must migrate, resort to feeders or odd niches, or die. Frozen water drives waterfowl first from ponds, then reservoirs, and in harsher winters from Lake Erie itself, while a few bodies of water where special cir-cumstances prevail—springs, rap-ids, dam overflows—can host note-worthy local numbers of ducks. Hot-water outflows at Erie shore power plants invite hordes of div-ing waterfowl and gulls. Birds like rails and snipes and great blue her-ons may pass the winter at spring-fed wetlands, seeps, or sheltered ditches. The huge outflow of the spring at Castalia in Erie County never freezes, and is a magnet for ducks, most interestingly tender dabblers like gadwalls, wigeons, and shovelers seldom seen else-where in the state at this time.

For a few other birds, like in-sectivorous brown creepers, even feeble winter sunlight is enough to stir prey hidden in tree bark. East-ern phoebes may persist in mild January weather to take advan-tage of winter stoneflies. Acorns and other nuts, cockleburs, dried grapes, seeds, sumac, grasses, rag-weed, sunflowers, locust beans, and the like persist to feed many

others. Feeders tended by humans allow some birds to pass the winter further north than might otherwise be possible. Landscape plantings of hawthorns, crabapples, etc. are another important food source. Raptor numbers fluctuate from year to year with local abundances of rodents and smaller birds, just as the numbers of certain boreal birds—snowy owls, winter finches—vary with the supplies of food further north, dearths of which periodically bring them to Ohio. In recent years, small numbers of merlins have taken to wintering in urban settings in both the north and the south, and several golden eagles have wintered in Muskingum County, an eventuality unforeseen ten years ago.

As many as 150 bird species may be found in Ohio during January. Spar-rows, blackbirds, goldfinches, and the resident species can be found in good numbers. Winter finches (red-breasted nuthatches, pine siskins, crossbills, redpolls, evening grosbeaks) can be uncommon or absent, often in biennial cycles, likelier recently in winters whose Decembers fall in odd-numbered years. Raptorial visitors like northern shrikes, rough-legged hawks, and harri-ers share the landscape with year-round predators. Variable numbers of owls of the north, like short-eareds, long-eareds, and saw-whets, roost winter-long in suitable habitats, while local owls, especially great horneds, may begin nesting late in the month.

In the northwestern marshes, fair-sized flocks of snow geese and tundra swans pass the winter. In the south, large roosts of both black and turkey vul-tures gather to do the same. A recent curiosity has been the number of rufous hummingbirds that persist, often at feeders, into January. In 2004, eight rufous hummingbirds were seen in January, one of them as late as the 23rd of the month, a new record date.

- Bill Whan

3

Bird Club meeting

thursday, january 20th7:00 p.m.

sharon woods visitor center

Our speaker for the January pro-gram will be... you. Or at least it could be you, if you have some photos of birds you would like to share with members and friends. The January program, as in past years, will again be the very popular members photo night. At this program, we encourage all members to show some of their favorite photos and maybe tell us a little something about them. We also ask that each person limit the number of photographs to about 10 to 20 pic-tures to make sure that everyone gets a chance.

For those into digital photography, there is a digital projector available. We will be able to show digital photos from CD, DVD and possibly slides. Apparently slides are a thing of the past as no one has showed any at this program for a few years. If you plan to show slides let us know in advance. If you have pictures on another type of drive, please contact me in advance of

the meeting to discuss how to show your photos. There will be a laptop available, but if you have one, you might want to consider bringing it.

This is always a fun and interesting evening. I hope you can come out and share some of your photos with us. If you don’t plan to present any of your own, you still won’t want to miss this program, as I’m sure you will enjoy the di-verse photos of our talented membership.

If you have any ques-tions concerning this pro-gram feel free to contact me at fopsinc@gmail.com, (513) 685-2739.

-Bob Foppe

Members Photo Night

around the valley . . .Audubon Society of OhioField tripSunday, Jan. 16th, 8:00 a.m.Location: Mitchell Memorial ForestLeaders: Charlie Saunders (513) 829-6981, Mike Busam (513) 755-0057, mbusam@gmail.comMeet: Mitchell Moemorial Forest parking lotCost: Free, but Park District auto stic-ker required ($2 daily, $10 annual)

Oxbow, Inc.Evening winter walkFriday, Jan. 21st, 7:00 pm. Location: Shawnee Lookout ParkLeader: John Klein, (513) 941-4877Meet: Shawnee Lookout Golf Coarse Clubhouse parking lotCost: Free, but Park District auto sticker required ($2 daily, $10 annual)

Cincinnati Nature CenterBird walks Saturday, Jan. 8th - Darlena GrahamSaturday, Jan. 22nd - David BrinkmanMeet your guide in the Rowe Woods parking lot at 8 a.m. Beginners are welcome. Members free; nonmembers pay daily admission of $5 for adults and $1 for children ages 3-12.

Do you have a garage apartment or similar space that is not being used? RAPTOR, Inc. will be hosting Sara John-son, a 26-year-old graduate student from Arkansas State University this Spring. Sara will be coming to Cincinnati to study Red-shouldered Hawks and is searching for free or inexpensive housing. Sara will be working with Jeff Hays, Melinda Simon, and myself to learn more about suburban hawks. She plans to use video cameras to set up

a live-feed website of a Red-shouldered Hawk nest, as a supplement to RAPTOR, Inc.'s educational programming. She will need a bedroom and bath, and ideally kitchen facilities, from Feb. 1 to June, 2011. If you can help Sara, please contact Melinda Simon, melindasimon@cinci.rr.com or myself at cheryldykstra@juno.com. Thank you.

- Cheryl Dykstra

a note from RAPTOR, Inc.

Bird Club field trips4

Sunday, January 23rd 12:00 pm A Tour of the Little Miami River ValleyLeader: Bob Foppe, 513-685-2739 e-mail: fopsinc@aol.com Join Bob for what should be a great afternoon of local birding. Bob plans to start out viewing the abun-dant waterfowl, and maybe a Bald Eagle, at the Camp Dennison Grav-el Pits. From there Bob may make several stops at various locations as we head south down the valley. A stop at Rowe Arboretum is sched-uled to try for Pine Siskins and other conifer-loving species. Bob will end the day at Armleder Park to hopefully see the Northern Har-riers, Short-eared Owls and other raptors and field species that have been wintering there. Expect to see lots of species if you attend this one. Remember, the meeting time for this field trip is 12 p.m. The trip will continue until dusk.

Directions: We will meet in the parking lot of AIM, which is the name of the business located on the east side (same side as the pits) of Glendale-Milford Rd./ Route 126. The management of AIM has gra-ciously agreed to allow us to park and view the pits from their park-ing lot. Thanks to Bob for setting this up. This is the business at the extreme north end of the Camp Dennison gravel pits, just south of Fletcher Rd. and the Little Miami River.From I-275: Take exit # 54 /Wards Corner Rd. Go south about 1.5 miles into Miamiville. At the stop sign turn left on to Rt. 126 (called Center Rd.). Go east a short dis-tance to a stop sign and turn right. You are still on Rt.126. Go across the bridge and past Fletcher Rd. and turn left into the AIM lot.

Saturday, February 5th 8:00 am Spring Grove CemeteryLeader: Steve Bobonick, (513) 829-2118, e-mail: bobonick@msn.com This outing will focus on finding our local winter visitors such as Fox Sparrows, Sapsuckers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, etc. Merlins have wintered in Spring Grove dur-ing the past several years, so that is also a possibility. We expect to be out for about three hours. Meeting Place: Park along the main road just beyond the tunnel at the main entrance on Spring Grove Ave.

Steve BobonickField Trip Co-ordinator(H) 513-829-2118(W) 513-243-2909(cell) 513-702-3451bobonick@msn.com

Short-eared Owl © Lana Hays

Fox Sparrow © Lana Hays

Bird Club field trips

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker © Lana Hays

5

Audubon Christmas6

Ohio River CBCDate: December 18, 2010Compiler: Paul WhartonNumber of participants: 10Total species: 84

Snow Goose 1Canada Goose 3,790Wood Duck 3Gadwall 19American Wigeon 1American Black Duck 86Mallard 673Northern Shoveler 7Northern Pintail 6Canvasback 1Redhead 2Ring-necked Duck 8Bufflehead 8Common Goldeneye 1Hooded Merganser 13Ruddy Duck 31Wild Turkey 174Pied-billed Grebe 8Great Blue Heron 37Black Vulture 17Turkey Vulture 7Osprey 1 (2nd count record)Bald Eagle 13 (record #)Northern Harrier 5Sharp-shinned Hawk 1Cooper's Hawk 11Red-shouldered Hawk 7Red-tailed Hawk 51Rough-legged Hawk 1American Kestrel 12 (low #)American Coot 37Killdeer 1Ring-billed Gull 14 (low #)Rock Pigeon 1,013 (high #)Mourning Dove 375Eastern Screech-Owl 2Great Horned Owl 1Short-eared Owl 1 (1st cnt. recrd.)Belted Kingfisher 11Red-bellied Woodpecker 66Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 4Downy Woodpecker 72Hairy Woodpecker 5Northern Flicker 25Pileated Woodpecker 15Blue Jay 56

American Crow 1,140Horned Lark 289Carolina Chickadee 377Tufted Titmouse 170White-breasted Nuthatch 50Brown Creeper 6Carolina Wren 61Winter Wren 1Golden-crowned Kinglet 34Eastern Bluebird 34American Robin 2,234Northern Mockingbird 23European Starling 7,315American Pipit 2Cedar Waxwing 144Yellow-rumped Warbler 27Eastern Towhee 53Am. Tree Sparrow 1,345 (high #)Field Sparrow 4Savannah Sparrow 11 (high #)Fox Sparrow 49Song Sparrow 407Swamp Sparrow 99White-throated Sparrow 299White-crowned Sparrow 267Lincoln's Sparrow 1 (1st cnt. record)Dark-eyed Junco 98Lapland Longspur 1Northern Cardinal 451Red-winged Blackbird 70Rusty Blackbird 90Brewer's Blackbird 2Common Grackle 38Brown-headed Cowbird 13Purple Finch 4House Finch 118American Goldfinch 274House Sparrow 73

Count week species (2):Cackling Goose Lesser Scaup

Hamilton/Fairfield CBCDate: December 18, 2010Compiler: Mike BusamNumber of participants: 17Total species: 73Canada Goose 2,258Mute Swan 1Wood Duck 3Gadwall 9American Wigeon 3American Black Duck 9Mallard 470Lesser Scaup 7Bufflehead 16Hooded Merganser 24

Wild Turkey 6Pied-billed Grebe 15Great Blue Heron 16Black Vulture 1Turkey Vulture 1Bald Eagle 2Northern Harrier 11Sharp-shinned Hawk 4Cooper's Hawk 19Red-shouldered Hawk 3Red-tailed Hawk 44American Kestrel 10American Coot 10Killdeer 5Wilson's Snipe 3Ring-billed Gull 17Rock Pigeon 970Mourning Dove 197Eastern Screech-Owl 2Great Horned Owl 6Belted Kingfisher 13Red-bellied Woodpecker 62Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 7Downy Woodpecker 67Hairy Woodpecker 4Pileated Woodpecker 4Eastern Phoebe 2Blue Jay 57American Crow 163Horned Lark 265Carolina Chickadee 186Tufted Titmouse 58White-breasted Nuthatch 36Brown Creeper 9Carolina Wren 35Winter Wren 4Golden-crowned Kinglet 12Eastern Bluebird 7Hermit Thrush 2American Robin 2,296Northern Mockingbird 14European Starling 5,492Gray Catbird 1Cedar Waxwing 3Eastern Towhee 3American Tree Sparrow 88Field Sparrow 6Fox Sparrow 1Song Sparrow 108Swamp Sparrow 3White-throated Sparrow 262White-crowned Sparrow 24Dark-eyed Junco 101Northern Flicker 19Lapland Longpsur 2Northern Cardinal 158Red-winged Blackbird 1Rusty Blackbird 5Common Grackle 25

House Finch 82Pine Siskin 1American Goldfinch 74House Sparrow 104

West. Hamilton Cty. CBCDate: December 19, 2010Compiler: Ned KellerNumber of participants: 32Total species: 88

Canada Goose 2,701Mute Swan 2Tundra Swan 1Wood Duck 2Gadwall 11American Wigeon 1American Black Duck 64Mallard 517Green-winged Teal 14Ring-necked Duck 3Hooded Merganser 6Common Merganser 1Ruddy Duck 5Wild Turkey 64Pied-billed Grebe 1Great Blue Heron 16Black Vulture 3Turkey Vulture 7Bald Eagle 6Northern Harrier 8Sharp-shinned Hawk 5Cooper's Hawk 10Red-shouldered Hawk 14Red-tailed Hawk 56Rough-legged Hawk 5American Kestrel 8Merlin 2Peregrine Falcon 1American Coot 66Ring-billed Gull 6Rock Pigeon 697Mourning Dove 398Eastern Screech-Owl 2Great Horned Owl 3Barred Owl 2Short-eared Owl 1Belted Kingfisher 17Red-headed Woodpecker 3Red-bellied Woodpecker 217Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 30Downy Woodpecker 177Hairy Woodpecker 18Northern Flicker 50Pileated Woodpecker 25Eastern Phoebe 1Blue Jay 311American Crow 3,469Horned Lark 434

Below are the preliminary results for the five local Christ-mas Bird Counts organized by the Bird Club, as part of the National Audubon Society’s 111th Christmas Bird Count.

Audubon Christmas Bird Count Results7

Carolina Chickadee 1,123Tufted Titmouse 371Red-breasted Nuthatch 14White-breasted Nuthatch 115Brown Creeper 43Carolina Wren 117Winter Wren 1Golden-crowned Kinglet 72Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1Eastern Bluebird 126Hermit Thrush 5American Robin 13,981Northern Mockingbird 52Brown Thrasher 1European Starling 18,948American Pipit 1Cedar Waxwing 204Yellow-rumped Warbler 84Eastern Towhee 63American Tree Sparrow 507Field Sparrow 24Vesper Sparrow 1Savannah Sparrow 2Fox Sparrow 12Song Sparrow 696Swamp Sparrow 88White-throated Sparrow 567White-crowned Sparrow 14Dark-eyed Junco 563Northern Cardinal 1151Red-winged Blackbird 65Eastern Meadowlark 2Rusty Blackbird 35Common Grackle 484Brown-headed Cowbird 149Purple Finch 5House Finch 154Pine Siskin 3American Goldfinch 354House Sparrow 626

Cincinnati CBCDate: December 26, 2010Compiler: Jay StengerNumber of participants: 103Total species: 87(*indicates count record):

Canada Goose 3,688 Gadwall 38 American Wigeon 9 American Black Duck 57 Mallard 1505 * Canvasback 23 Redhead 21 Ring-necked Duck 44 Greater Scaup 6 Bufflehead 34Hooded Merganser 149

Ruddy Duck 39Wild Turkey 26 Northern Bobwhite 3Pied-billed Grebe 3Double-crested Cormorant 1 Great Blue Heron 28 Bald Eagle 3 Black Vulture 76 Turkey Vulture 48 Northern Harrier 6 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 Cooper’s Hawk 16 (unidentified accipiter 5) Red-shouldered Hawk 14Red-tailed Hawk 65 American Kestrel 8 Merlin 1 Peregrine Falcon 1 American Coot 191 Killdeer 1Ring-billed Gull 109 Rock Pigeon 531 Mourning Dove 662Eastern Screech-Owl 4Great Horned Owl 11Barred Owl 2 Short-eared Owl 3 Belted Kingfisher 33 Red-bellied Woodpecker 394 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 38 Downy Woodpecker 335 Hairy Woodpecker 47 Northern Flicker 92 Pileated Woodpecker 34Eastern Phoebe 2 Blue Jay 457 American Crow 1,202 Horned Lark 6 Carolina Chickadee 1,287 Tufted Titmouse 569 Red-breasted Nuthatch 4White-breasted Nuthatch 254 Brown Creeper 46Carolina Wren 183 Winter Wren 3 Golden-crowned Kinglet 96 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Eastern Bluebird 87 Hermit Thrush 11 American Robin 14,144 Northern Mockingbird 72 European Starling 49,157 Cedar Waxwing 667 Yellow-rumped Warbler 147 Eastern Towhee 105 American Tree Sparrow 637 Field Sparrow 35 Savannah Sparrow 7 Fox Sparrow 2

Song Sparrow 630 Swamp Sparrow 52 White-throated Sparrow 705 White-crowned Sparrow 55 Dark-eyed Junco 548 Lapland Longspur 2 Northern Cardinal 1,234 Red-winged Blackbird 115 Eastern Meadowlark 2 Rusty Blackbird 111 Brewer’s Blackbird 1 Common Grackle 682 Brown-headed Cowbird 41 Purple Finch 18 House Finch 223 Pine Siskin 31American Goldfinch 505 House Sparrow 580

Count Week Species (5): Northern Shoveler Northern PintailGreen-winged Teal Brown Thrasher American Pipit

East Fork CBCDate: January 2, 2010Compiler: Joe BensNumber of participants: 17Total species: 70

Canada Goose 2,197Gadwall 2American Black Duck 8Mallard 729Redhead 3Ring-necked Duck 22Common Goldeneye 1Hooded Merganser 6Horned Grebe 9Pied-billed Grebe 16Double-crested Cormorant 1Great Blue Heron 9Turkey Vulture 170Black Vulture 93Northern Harrier 1Sharp-shinned Hawk 2Copper's Hawk 3Red-shouldered Hawk 26Red-tailed Hawk 28American Kestrel 16Merlin 1Wild Turkey 164American Coot 1Bonaparte's Gull 31Ring-billed Gull 650Rock Pigeon 175Mourning Dove 169

Eastern Screech-Owl 1Barred Owl 2Belted Kingfisher 6Red-headed Woodpecker 36Red-bellied Woodpecker 102Downy Woodpecker 56Hairy Woodpecker 16Northern Flicker 42Pileated Woodpecker 11Blue Jay 235American Crow 231Horned Lark 9Carolina Chickadee 300Tufted Titmouse 171White-breasted Nuthatch 85Brown Creeper 5Carolina Wren 30Golden-crowned Kinglet 28Eastern Bluebird 57American Robin 491Northern Mockingbird 25European Starling 2,005Cedar Waxwing 333Yellow-rumped Warbler 65Eastern Towhee 24American Tree Sparrow 89Field Sparrow 22Song Sparrow 181Swamp Sparrow 8Savannah Sparrow 1White-throated Sparrow 165White-crowned Sparrow 10Dark-eyed Junco 196Northern Cardinal 400Redwing Blackbird 58Common Grackle 297Rusty Blackbird 1Brown-headed Cowbird 22Purple Finch 3House Finch 77American Goldfinch 167Pine Sisken 7House Sparrow 171

Pigeonthe passenger

Newsletter of the Cincinnati Bird ClubCincinnati Bird Clubc/o Newsletter Editor2497 Spindlehill Drive, #6Cincinnati, OH 45230

Visit us on the Web at:http://www.cincinnatibirds.com/birdclub/index.php

2010-2011 Dues:If you haven’t sent in your dues yet for the September 2010 - May 2011 birding season, please fill out the form below and mail it in along with your membership fees.

President: Ann Oliveremail: annieobirder@yahoo.comProgram Chair: Bob Foppeemail: fopsinc@aol.comField Trips: Steve Bobonickemail: bobonick@msn.comNewsletter Editor: Mark Gilsdorfemail: markg74@gmail.comTreasurer: Lois Shadixemail: lcshadix@fuse.netPark VIP: Jay Lehman

Bird Club MembershipName _____________________________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________________

Phone ____________________________________________________________________________

Yes I would like to receive my newsletter via e-mail. E-mail _____________________________

_____Individual $12.00 ______Family $15.00 ______Student (under 18) FREE

Make your check payable to Cincinnati Bird Club, and mail to our Treasurer:

Lois Shadix (lcshadix@fuse.net), 2928 Saddleback Dr, Cincinnati, OH 45244