March 23, 2018
Chippies, as my great aunt used to call them, are back in Cincinnati. On my way home from work I made an impromptu decision to pull into Old St. Joseph Cemetery where I expected to find them. I've seen Chippies in cemeteries many times, so I figured it is as good a place as any to look.
I didn't take long before I heard one singing. Already this year I had found a Pine Warbler at Mitchell Memorial Forest and Dark-eyed Juncos have been singing in my neighborhood. Both of these birds sound superficially similar to the Chipping Sparrow, but the Chippie has a drier, more monotone song than these two. The Pine Warbler's song was easily recognized as sweeter, more musical. The Dark-eyed Junco's song seems to be somewhat in between the Chipping Sparrow and Pine Warbler in terms of dryness and musical quality. The Chippie was seen on the ground eating grass seeds from the growing stems, and another was heard in a nearby tree.
After changing from my work clothes at home, I headed to Fernald Preserve where I was expecting to find some target birds. I walked out to the bird blind where snipe have been recently reported. I was unsuccessful once again at finding snipe but was pleasantly surprised to find a small group of Purple Martins flying around the nearby pond.
New additions on this day: Chipping Sparrow and Purple Martin to bring the total to 110 species.
Chippies, as my great aunt used to call them, are back in Cincinnati. On my way home from work I made an impromptu decision to pull into Old St. Joseph Cemetery where I expected to find them. I've seen Chippies in cemeteries many times, so I figured it is as good a place as any to look.
I didn't take long before I heard one singing. Already this year I had found a Pine Warbler at Mitchell Memorial Forest and Dark-eyed Juncos have been singing in my neighborhood. Both of these birds sound superficially similar to the Chipping Sparrow, but the Chippie has a drier, more monotone song than these two. The Pine Warbler's song was easily recognized as sweeter, more musical. The Dark-eyed Junco's song seems to be somewhat in between the Chipping Sparrow and Pine Warbler in terms of dryness and musical quality. The Chippie was seen on the ground eating grass seeds from the growing stems, and another was heard in a nearby tree.
After changing from my work clothes at home, I headed to Fernald Preserve where I was expecting to find some target birds. I walked out to the bird blind where snipe have been recently reported. I was unsuccessful once again at finding snipe but was pleasantly surprised to find a small group of Purple Martins flying around the nearby pond.
New additions on this day: Chipping Sparrow and Purple Martin to bring the total to 110 species.
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