I needed Evening Grosbeak for my Jan list & the third time was the charm for the Evening Grosbeaks near the gorge overlook area. I ran into another birder from gahanna there who was also looking for them. A flock flew in shortly after I arrived from the direction of the gorge overlook to near the residence mentioned on ebird. There were 20 or so with a couple bright males. It was wonderful to hear them as well. With the help of John’s keen ears, I was able to add Brown Creeper to my January list also. 

He then told me about some ebird sightings of Rough-legged Hawks not far from the Gorge area so we took off separately to survey the areas around McCurdy Road. After spotting an imm Bald Eagle but no RL, I decided to check out Pleasantville lake where I saw 2 Black Ducks and 6-8 drake Com Mergansers. I then got a call from John saying he had a 2 dark morph Rough-legged Hawks where I had just seen the eagle 20 minutes or so before on mccurdy. 

He still had one in his scope when I returned & we watched it at some distance while it flew. I haven’t seen a dark morph for sometime so it was a real treat. I stayed in the area for an hour and a half driving the roads hoping that I might get a closer look and possibly some photos of the RL. I finally found one bird again perched in a low bush but a pick-up truck passing me flushed it. Thankfully, I was able to relocate it and got some passable photos although at a greater distance than would have been preferable. So that was a very nice addition to my January & 2023 list. Thanks so much John!

Other roadside birds: a few kestrels incl one eating a mouse, Red-taileds, 3 imm & 1 ad Bald Eagle, bluebirds. Big flocks of starlings but no Merlin ambushing them. Many crows, often out in the corn fields. 

Peggy Wang
Granville 

Sent from my iPhone
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