David's Hamilton County Big Year 2018

When I looked at the Cincinnati bird checklist for January at the beginning of the year, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to reach 100 species in the month for the January 100 Challenge. But after scoring 5 species of geese in one day and getting some very accomodating Lapland Longspurs and Snow Buntings, I thought it might be possible. The impressive thing about this whole run was, despite bitter cold temperatures that kept most bodies of water frozen or nearly so, I managed to find little patches of open water here and there and eventually sweep all of the expected species of January waterfowl. The only regularly occurring waterfowl species that I'm missing at this point is Blue-winged Teal which I wouldn't expect here until around March. In February my waterbird focus will be on finding scoters, Long-tailed Duck, loons and grebes. I managed to sweep other family groups as well, including all of the expected January diurnal raptors, including all three falcon species, and...

I had already planned to go birding this morning (Saturday 1/27/18) so a little rain wasn't going to stop me. Afterall, I've seen many good birds in the rain, among them my lifer Henslow's Sparrow and Willow Flycatchers, and hoards of Soras and Virginia Rails. I began my morning in the dark driving some back roads to see if I could find Sandhill Cranes in the cornfields before they take off at day break. I also needed to determine where the county line is when Oxford Rd. becomes Race Lane Road at the Hamilton Co./Butler Co. line. There is no county sign marking this boundary, so I had to rely on my Ohio Delorme Atlas & Gazateer. Apparently the county line is shortly after a sharp bend in the road. I also tried for Northern Saw-whet and Eastern Screech-owls using playback. No luck. I initially was going to begin daybreak at Miami Whitewater Wetlands, but I decided to go to Fernald to see if I could get Short-eared Owls at the gate at daybreak. When I arrived, I was s...

When I arrived at Lodge Pond at Fernald Preserve early this afternoon, another birder was standing there photographing ducks, geese and swans. There was a wide variety of ducks, a few geese and several Mute Swans. I quickly found a pair of Hooded Mergansers, a waterfowl species that has eluded me all month. Had I been five minutes too late, I would have missed them because after a few ducks went airborne, I couldn't relocate the mergansers. After a brief celebration for finally getting these birds, the other birder informed me that he had 3 Long-tailed Ducks about an hour prior at the Lost Bridge gravel pits. So instead of walking the path around Lodge Pond as originally planned to look for some much needed icterids, I decided to go on this chase. I feared that he had misidentified the pintails there. When I arrived at Lost Bridge, the numbers of geese and ducks were way down from previously. We have had rising temperatures and with that thawing ice and more places with open wate...

January 20-21, 2018 I will be out of the county in Indiana this afternoon and into Sunday morning for a Boy Scout camping trip with my son. If I add anything new in the county, it will be while traveling on the highway before the Ohio/Indiana state line. Update: My ABA year list is one more than my Hamilton county year list due to 400 Sandhill Cranes near Seymour, IN. To date I have yet to add Sandhill Crane in my county this year.

Today I went looking for some target birds, beginning at Miami-Whitewater Forest where I searched diligently for Winter Wrens where 7  Carolina Wrens were foraging in perfect Winter Wren habitat. Believe me, every wren was checked through my bins. No luck this winter so far. On to the wetlands to see if the lake was frozen or not. It was. I would have to look for hoodies and woodies later at Lost Bridge. No blackbirds in the marsh either. I'm still in need of four possible icterids (Red-winged Blackbird, Rusty Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird and Eastern Meadowlark). Rather quiet. I did see three Red-shouldered Hawks there, to go along with the three Barred Owls I saw today. Funny how that happens, since there is a niche relationship between these two, with the hawk hunting by day and the owl hunting similar habitats by night. Still hoards of geese at Lost Bridge, perhaps as many as 3000 Canada, 4 Snow and a small assortment of ducks, including 14 Common Goldeneye, ...

Well, I went three long days without adding anything new due to inclement weather, work and family obligations. Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching my feeders hoping for something new for the year that I haven't had at my feeders very often, things like Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Chipping Sparrow. Yes, I still need these birds for the year. The Red-breasted Nuthatch has become my nemesis for my county big year. I have not seen one since the end of November at Spring Grove Cemetery, and I heard but did not see one in December in my neighborhood. I struck out on this species again at Spring Grove Cemetery. Next stop was to go to the gravel pits across from the Lost Bridge mudflats and see what changes have occurred in the waterfowl composition. I call these the Elizabethtown Gravel Pits. Most of the Snow Geese were gone sans about 8, and I really wasn't trying but found at least 10 Cackling Geese. No Ross or Greater White-fronted were dete...

I had an early shift this morning so I was able to bird later in the morning and into the early afternoon. A Snowy Owl had been reported at Great American Ball Park by the Cincinnati Reds grounds crew. It was confirmed with a photo, sitting on the railing at the edge of the ballpark. I decided to go down and pay the $4 to park along Mehring Way and go birding at Smale Riverfront Park which is between the ballpark and the river. I didn't get the owl, but I did find a very cooperative and close Pied-billed Grebe in Ohio waters. Then a flock of 4 Red-breasted Mergansers were first picked up flying over Ohio waters but landed in the river across the Kentucky state line. Since I first saw them flying over Hamilton county, I'm counting them. A Merlin, not new for the year, flew over my head and across the river to Kentucky. Just a few minutes later, a young Peregrine Falcon came flying across the river from near the Daniel Beard bridge and kept on going toward the skyscrapers in down...

Wednesday January 10 I went to Harrison to get some money at the bank to buy a annual park decal for my car at Miami-Whitewater Forest but the attendant wasn't there today. Yesterday he let me in but I found several areas closed due to icy conditions. Today, with the warmer temperatures, these areas were open and I was able to search for and find a Barred Owl for my most consistently reliable spot for this species. I also heard a Winter Wren singing but couldn't find it. I'm keeping my county year list as birds that are seen, so heard only birds will not count. I'll know where to look for this bird on my next visit. Next I decided to check the Lost Bridge area for the hoards of geese that have been recently reported there. I quickly found the gigantic flock of Canada Geese with some white geese mixed in! Bingo! Stop the car, get out and pop the trunk. I scoped the white birds, quickly recognized 80 Snow Geese, both phases, (check), found 8 smaller white geese swimmi...

I had another split run so I took advantage of the 4.5 hour break that I had before I had to be back to work. Spring Grove Cemetery was open today (closed yesterday due to icy roads). I did not add anything new. Red-breasted Nuthatch and Pine Siskin are proving more elusive than I anticipated. I will check Mitchell Memorial Forest sometime later in the month. I went to Miami-Whitewater Wetlands only to find most of the lake frozen, although four American Black Ducks were noteworthy but not new (got them at Camp Dennison last Saturday). Hundreds upon hundreds of geese flying over caused some excitement as I checked each flock carefully for Greater White-fronted, Snow and Ross. Depending on what work I get tomorrow at Metro, I'm hoping to have enough birding time to visit Lost Bridge and Mt. Nebo Gravel Pits near Shawnee Lookout County Park to go on a wild goose chase where all three of these species were reported yesterday. Only bird added at the wetlands was a much needed Swamp S...

Take One: After work I tried for the recently reported Common and Red-breasted Mergansers at the Schmidt Boat Ramp. Did not have my scope with me and photographed a very distant duck still in Ohio waters but could not make it out. Photo sent to merganser expert, Chuck Slusarczyk Jr. in Cleveland for analysis. No new birds added. If the merganser can be identified from the photo, I may consider adding it, or wait for a more definitive bird somewhere in the county. Take Two:  Not wanting to be skunked today with no new birds added, I thought I would head to Spring Grove Cemetery, very close to my workplace, to try for Pine Siskin and Red-breasted Nuthatch. I arrived only to find a sign indicating that, for safety reasons, the cemetery grounds were temporarily closed due to icy roads. School was closed today and my wife was once again forced to work from home. Balancing family with birding, I went home to keep an eye on the kids while my wife worked.  Take Three:...

Had to run an errand and, to avoid my second day of no new birds to the list, I decided to stop by New St. Joseph Cemetery, which is very close to home, to try for Merlin. Within 13 minutes I was able to find a male Merlin at the top of a snag who was then quickly displaced by a female Merlin. This bird brings my county year total to 68 species.

My son's cub scout den met at the Den Leader's house in Westwood this afternoon to make a movie outdoors in the woods as one of the electives for the Arrow of Light program. They will be bridging over to boy scouts in February. While I tried to stay out of the shots as they filmed their movie, I wore my binoculars around my neck, birding in the backyard, and quickly added Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. There were two birds, a male and an immature with white throat (female?). Next, a noisy flock of Common Grackles was music to my ears, as I needed this bird for my list. Normally I would not get excited about grackles, but they added one more to my total! Later I added a Northern Flicker as it flew past my head and into the woods. We went inside to warm up with hot chocolate and rice krispy treats. As we enjoyed these and enjoyed one another's company, I turned around to look out the window. What was that up in the tree? Could it be? Yes, a Hermit Thrush! Sometimes I have a hard...

Zeb Acuff and I birded three locations in eastern Hamilton county this morning with ambient temperature of -2 degrees Fahrenheit at the beginning and a balmy 15 degrees Fahrenheit by the time we were finished. Our day began before sunrise in the main parking lot of Otto Armleder Park hoping for Short-eared Owls at dawn, but we did not find any of those. We located the area where several field birds were recently reported in the soccer field. We quickly found several Horned Larks and a lone Snow Bunting among them. It took a little bit more scope work to locate two Lapland Longspurs. I initially estimated 30 birds, but when we returned from the bean field with better light as we headed to the cars we were able count 82 birds using only binoculars, one of which is a Snow Bunting, at least two of which are Lapland Longspurs (scope was in trunk by this time) and at least 70 or the majority of the birds were Horned Larks. On our way to the bean field I added White-crowned Sparrow to the y...

January 4 - no new birds. January 5 - added Tufted Titmouse in my neighbor's front yard. 2018 Year List total is at 48 species.

Wednesday January 3 I worked a split shift today at Metro. Two Black Vultures flew over my head near Colerain Ave. and I-74 as I was headed to the end of the line. After my morning work, I had some time so I went to Lake Barber Park (near Evan's Landscaping off Roundbottom Rd. in Newtown). Five Long-tailed Ducks were reported here on the Cincinnati CBC. When I arrived, I found that most of the eastern lake was frozen over and only a lone Mute Swan standing on the ice. I walked back to the car and grabbed the scope, and decided to find the western lake that I saw on the map. As I walked I added White-breasted Nuthatch. When I arrived at the western lake, I found some open water and flushed a group of Mallards out toward the other distant ducks and geese. Fifteen Tundra Swans stood on the ice. With my scope I scanned the raft of ducks. Among Canada Geese and Mallards were Redheads, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Gadwall, Northern Shoveler, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Ducks and A...

Noisy Blue Jays in the neighborhood were new for the year today. I worked again at Metro (usually happens on weekdays). I had to catch the route 31 bus to my relief point so I could relieve a driver on the route 32. While standing at the bus stop, 3 Ring-billed Gulls flew over my head. I missed these in the county last year. Later, while driving the route 32, I added Northern Mockingbird and Red-shouldered Hawk. New birds for the year today: Blue Jay, Ring-billed Gull, Northern Mockingbird, Red-shouldered Hawk. 2018 Year List = 20.

Today is new year's day, time to look out the window first thing in the morning and hope that the first bird of the year is neither a starling, house sparrow or pigeon. This year, 2018, the first bird I saw at the feeders was a White-throated Sparrow. You could say it was a tie because this bird was in the company of Dark-eyed Juncos. I submitted two ebird checklists on this day, both from my home feeders and surrounding neighborhood. My first checklist included the following 12 species: Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, European Starling, Dark-eyed Junco (including two of the cismontanus subspecies), White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch and House Sparrow. Later I would add Carolina Wren and House Finch for a day's total of 14 species at this location. I had to work later that day at Metro. While driving the bus I added two more species, Rock Pigeon and American Robin. 2018 Yearli...