JANUARY 01, 2022 - CUYAHOGA VALLEY MONTHLY TOWPATH TRAIL CENSUS. ROUTE: Red Lock Trailhead south to Merriman Valley. TIME: 7:35am - 4:20pm TEMP.: 49F ~ 46F COND.: Cloudy with sprinkles starting at 8:35am then ending at 9:10am; sprinkles starting up again at 10:35am, turning to light mist with heavy fog rolling in; very low ceiling with poor visibility, then fog lifting and back to sprinkles, turning to steady light rain for the rest of the census. TRAIL COND.: Wet, slick, rutted and sloppy; many dead ash trees along trail from 12/10/21 high winds/tornadic weather from southwest; several large trees, roots and all, collapsed into Cuyahoga River and taking out large sections of riverbank. RIVER COND.: Muddy, slightly above normal, and rising. OBS.: John Henry (Red Lock Trailhead to Bolanz Rd.) and Douglas W. Vogus. I. MAMMALS: 5 SPECIES. 1. Eastern Gray Squirrel - 8 (3 black morph) 2. Eastern Fox Squirrel - 1 3. Red Squirrel - 37 4. Common Raccoon - 1 (First January Record on Census) 5. White-tailed Deer - 1 (doe) II. BIRDS: 41 SPECIES, 1,508 TOTAL BIRDS. (NOTE: m = male; f = female; ? = bird was seen but not sexed; * = bird was heard calling but not sexed) 1. Canada Goose - 81 2. American Black Duck - 37 (sexes not separated due to rain) 3. Mallard - 14 (10m,4f) 4. Common Merganser - 3 (f) (at the mouth of Sand Run where it empties into Cuyahoga River) 5. Mourning Dove - 35 6. Ring-billed Gull - 23 7. Herring Gull - 4 8. Great Blue Heron - 3 9. Cooper's Hawk - 1 (immature male) 10. Bald Eagle - 6 (2 adults - m & f - perched near Dover Lake; 2 immatures dog-fighting over Stanford Swamp; 1 adult at Lock 29 Beaver Marsh; 1 "dirty" adult overlooking Szalay's corn stubble field) 11. Red-tailed Hawk - 4 (2 immature) 12. Eastern Screech-Owl - 1 (gray morph) 13. Belted Kingfisher - 2 (m) (one male at Ira Rd. dropped onto a sandbar and captured a crayfish, carried it to a perch, beat it senseless, and scarfed it down) 14. Red-bellied Woodpecker - 11 (2m,3f,2?,4*) 15. Downy Woodpecker - 11 (4m,2f,5*) 16. Hairy Woodpecker - 7 (1m,2f,4*) 17. Pileated Woodpecker - 6 (1m,1f,4*) 18. Peregrine Falcon - 1 (f) (perched on snag along river at Stumpy Basin) 19. Blue Jay - 26 20. American Crow - 489 (majority heading to roost on last leg of census) 21. Black-capped Chickadee - 35 22. Tufted Titmouse - 25 23. White-breasted Nuthatch - 17 (8m,3f,1?,5*) 24. Carolina Wren - 19 25. Golden-crowned Kinglet - 6 (1m,2f,3?) 26. Eastern Bluebird - 10 (6m,3f,1?) 27. American Robin - 69 (a partially leucistic one at Ira Beaver Marsh - a little white around beak and eye and plenty on primaries and secondaries - resembling Northern Mockingbird in flight) 28. European Starling - 154 29. House Sparrow - 33 30. House Finch - 13 (6m,4f,1?,2*) 31. American Goldfinch - 29 32. American Tree Sparrow - 6 33. Dark-eyed Junco - 9 (8m,1?) 34. White-throated Sparrow - 41 35. Song Sparrow - 14 36. Swamp Sparrow - 1 37. Eastern Towhee - 1 (*) 38. Red-winged Blackbird - 2 (m) (mixed in with large Rusty Blackbird flock) 39. Rusty Blackbird - 200 (estimated - birds were staged in trees near Szalay's corn stubble field and entire flock bolted east before being able to sort through entire flock to separate sexes) 40. Common Grackle - 1 (male flying north above East Stanford Swamp) 41. Northern Cardinal - 53 (28m,14f,11*) Unidentified Passerines - 5 III. AMPHIBIANS: 2 SPECIES. 1. Northern Spring Peeper - 1 (heard at Red Lock at start of census - First January Record on Census) 2. Wood Frog - 3 (calling - crazy weather yields crazy results! - First January Record on Census) IV. CRUSTACEANS: 1 SPECIES. 1. Crayfish - 1 (see: Belted Kingfisher above - First January Record on Census) V. FISHES: 2 SPECIES. 1. Central Mudminnow - 29 (in Lock 28 - a.k.a. "Deep Lock" - Second January Record on Census) 2. Creek Chub - 13 (Second January Record on Census) Compiler: Douglas W. Vogus - Akron, Ohio. ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]