Chasing the Century

At the midpoint in January I was still a few short of the 100 so I decided to chase a few rarities that have been seen and trek around to find others to fill the holes. Three friends and I headed to mid Ohio before the sun came up yesterday morning. We revisited the now famous home of the Amish Harris Sparrow not to be disappointed. He popped up a few minutes after we arrived and within 15 minutes we had all added a new year bird which was also a life bird for some. From there we headed out to the rural fields to chase a mega flock of blackbirds. We found the flock of four thousand-ish and after pulling over on a very busy road and setting up scopes, we found the star of the show: yellow headed blackbird. A stunning male with a bright orangey-yellow head that popped out in the flock like a beacon. Again, a new year bird and a life bird for most. One hour out and we had already scored two new birds. It was setting up to be a great day.
Ten minutes later in route to our next stop a Wilson's Snipe sprang from a ditch and flew around for at least two of us to view. Bird three for the day.
We visited Time and Optics and talked to the owner. He directed us to a local farm with a silo that held a special visitor. On the top rung of the ladder sat our next new year bird: Barn Owl. The family was very friendly and happy to let us visit. Barn Owl has always been a tricky bird for us and this was almost too easy. Easy, but awesome. Next stop was at a local gravel pit jam packed with Canada geese and two very dainty Ross's Geese hiding within. We scanned for about 15 minutes before the flock shifted and made them stand out amongst the rest. Birds number four for the day.
Next it was off to Killbuck Marsh. As we slowly drove the roads we watched two Barred Owls fly across the road and into a stand of pines. Not a new bird, but always awesome to see.
Not much else was found in the area, but we enjoyed the nice day. At that point two of the group left and we decided to go further south to Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area. We arrived at about three in the afternoon and drove the roads looking for birds. Not much was seen until almost dark. At that point a Sharp Shinned Hawk cruised across the road which made us very happy. Then we spotted two short eared owls in a field near the sportsmen's center. We watched them for a while and then went to the center peaking area to talk to few other birders. At the top of a tree sat a single Eastern Meadowlark.

Lakefront Local Patch

The day started out at 9 degrees and soared all the way up to 23 before we called it a day. Before we even met up with the group a great horned owl was perched near the railroad tracks and a roost of 30 wild turkeys was found along the drive to Avon.
Avon power plant held a lot of waterfowl including my first of the year northern pintail. From Avon we headed over to Huntington Reservation. Glaucous gull was the second year bird of the day which we had great looks at. A stop at the visitors center gave us excellent views of a pair of barred owls in the woods being harassed by a mob of jays. We watched the owls until they dove down into the revine and headed to Wendy park and eventually to 72nd street.
Lots of time was spent at Wendy park trying to figure out if we had a snowy owl on the break wall or just a piece of ice. We left it as undetermined....
At 72nd street the gull numbers seemed down but we did have more good looks at glaucous gulls and I finally got satisfying looks at peregrine falcon to add it to my January list. Peregrine was bird number three for the day.
From there we headed over to Cleveland Lakefront State Park and found our northern saw whet owl in the pines. All in all it was a great day on the lakefront. We celebrated with food and drinks in Bay Village and then refound the same great horned owl where we had seen it in the morning.

January total to date: 93 birds

January 5-7

I spent the last few days cruising around some of the hot spots in Ohio looking for new year birds as well as trying to get my 100 in January in the first two weeks. My current total is 90 birds. The last ten might be challenging but god knows I love the chase. I have an outing with Local Patch tomorrow that I am sure will yield a few additional birds.
Highlights of the week would be:
Eastern screech owl, barred owl, more short eared owls and lots of Lapland longspurs and snow buntings at Killdeer Plains.
I also am planning to start including photos and a running year total list on this blog starting very soon.

Technical difficulties....please stand by

So the new year is off to a great start with malfunctioning posts to this blog. A few didn't make it up so I am just going to recap from here to get us caught up.
January 1:
I was up and out the door by 7:30 am to start the new year. Birded around the area of northwest Ohio and close to my parents house where I had spent the night. Castalia pond, East Harbor state park, Sheldon Marsh, Willow Point and Old Woman's Creek were all hit before 1 pm. Tallied 41 species that first day with the highlight being the great horned owl at Willow Point.
January 2:
Big day on the lakefront with Local Patch and all my good buddies. Lots of birds moving on the lake. Killer looks at Pomerine Jaegers (2!)and Iceland gulls. Stunning male long tailed duck at 72nd street and the super star of the day NSWO in the pines. Awesome morning in the field. From there a buddy and I chased a snowy owl report to the far west. No luck. It is looking like the reports might have been wrong, but time will tell. A pretty white red tail has been seen in the area....interesting. But the late trip was not a total loss. Upon departing the snowy sight, we came across 3 short eared owls in the short grasses of the licensed shooting preserve. Awesome!
January 3:
Took mom out for the day and some catch up birding. Added a few misses from day 1 bringing me up to 71 for the beginning of the year in Ohio. Again, relocating the great horned owls was a real treat.
January 4:
Didn't spend a lot of time out today. Long enough to track down cedar waxwings and a brown creeper at Seiberling Nature Realm. Ran into Irene at Bath Nature Preserve and together looked for the shrike....no luck. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.
Total for the month in Ohio so far: 73