Hi Folks,

 

Saturday I presented at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory symposium on Winter Bird Counts and got to speak with a number of birders from across the state.  After the conference I got the opportunity to talk with Kenn Kaufman and Geoff LeBaron, who wanted to go birding today (Sunday) before Geoff had to return to Massachussetts.  One of Geoff's target species was Red-headed Woodpecker, so we agreed to meet up at Killdeer Plains at dawn this morning, where Geoff would have the greatest likelihood of seeing them.  

 

We met up around 7:00 a.m. this morning at the Killdeer Plains Sportsman's Center and went directly to TH123 in search of Red-headed Woodpeckers.  We found Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker (both male & female), Eastern Bluebirds, American Robins, Song Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, Swamp Sparrows, & White-throated Sparrows in one little woodlot along 123.

 

From there we headed over to the "owl grove" where we scoured almost every inch for Long-eared or Saw-whet owls.  The "owl grove" was devoid of owls, however the large mis-shapen cedar at the entrance to the farm adjacent to the grove held a single Long-eared owl sitting out in the open.  I was able to get a good photo of it in spite of low light levels, high winds, & my camera battery was almost dead (http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/276/4443/1024/IMG_4294.jpg).

 

The owl grove did hold a few Song Sparrows, an American Tree Sparrow, a White-crowned Sparrow, and some Golden-crowned Kinglets.  Additionally we had American Goldfinches and Pine Siskins fly over as we waded through the thorny underbrush.

 

We then took some time to explore the pines along the road where we kicked up several more sparrows including a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow (http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/276/4443/1024/IMG_4321.jpg)

 

Some other highlights for the day included Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks, immature Bald Eagle, Horned Larks, American Pipits, Northern Mockingbirds, Killdeer, Mallards, Gadwall, Canada Geese, Ruddy Ducks, and Common Loons.

 

We finally took off around 12:30 to get Geoff back to Columbus in time for his afternoon flight back to Massachussetts.

 

So it was a pretty good day of birding for just a half-day of effort.

 

Hope others had as equally good weekend!

 

Happy Birding,

 

Casey