I do like being a birder. You can do it anywhere because birds are just about everywhere. Today I was driving in Brooklyn, Ohio (Cuyahoga County) along Granger Road where it crosses I-480. Not exactly a "hotspot". But, as I was pulling away from the traffic light going west I saw a northern mockingbird in a sumac next to the road. (I really try to not bird while driving. But, I was going slowly as I was pulling away from the traffic light.) Just to the east of this location along Granger Road I regularly see red-tailed hawks perched in the trees (between Granger Road and the highway.)

I do like seeing mockingbirds in the winter. They are very active compared to a lot of other birds I see. I find them along the bike path from Granger Road down to Tinkers Creek Road. They sometimes fly around close to the ground spreading their wing and tail feathers. Their black and white and gray feathers are really nice.

The duck...

Last week I was hiking in Bedford Reservation (Cuyahoga County) along Tinkers Creek (from the Hemlock Creek picnic area). I came across a dead female mallard along the shore. Its head was gone except for the bottom bill. It was partially fed upon. I could see in the snow around it that there were no tracks leading to the water. There were some faint wing tip prints outlining the carcass. 

I am thinking that maybe a great horned owl got the duck while it was on shore. The creek has trees all along the shore at this point. There are red-tails in this area, too. And, the bald eagles from the Cuyahoga Valley (just to the west) do fly up this creek regularly. But, the wing tip imprints in the snow didn't look big enough to be a red-tail or an eagle. That's why I was leaning towards an owl. Opinions are welcome on this. I wish I could have put up a motion-sensitive camera nearly to see what would come to feed next. 

Hope you see some birds today!

Ken

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