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Publication TYPE: Ohio-birds listserv posting
Date: Tue, 04 Jan 2005 17:15:26 -0500
Subject: Atlassing in NE Seneca County 3 Jan (38C2)

Fireside, Seneca County, Delorme 38C2
3 January 2005

These Tundra Swans were found near Fireside Cemetery; water fowl found the flooded fields this day quite appealing.

3 January .. overcast with steady rain and temps in the 30's morning fog precluded a start before 9:00 with obs.continuing through 3:00pm for 6 hrs in Atlas block Delorme 38 C2. This corresponds to NE Seneca County involving the Fireside area which has proven an especially diverse part of the county over the years. The extensive enrollment of farmland in contiguous tracts of CRP land is no more but the area still has something to offers over the surrounding landscape. Here is yesterday's list after 76 miles of roadside survey within the block. The downpour certainly affected terrestrial bird observations but this so-called duck weather was indeed amenable for waterfowl observations as a number of incipient prairie potholes (in what was once the southern portion of the grassland expanse known as the Sandusky Prairie) demonstrated their water holding capacity; in some cases inundating country roads.

Tundra Swan - 4 (2 ad, 2 imm) Canada Goose - 95 Gadwall - 3 American Black Duck - 6 Mallard - 101 Northern Pintail - 4 (2m, 2 f) ......... quite rare mid-winter away from major water bodies Northern Harrier - 5 (all males) Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 (ad.) Cooper's Hawk - 1 (imm. fem.) Red-tailed Hawk - 5 Rough-legged Hawk - 7 (2 dark, 5 light) American Kestrel - 6 Ring-billed Gull - 170 Herring Gull - 577 .... this is the largest mid-winter concentration of the species I have found this far from Lake Erie. About 85% were adults and were as approachable in the farm fields as they are on that lake making for decent photo studies. Presumably these birds are part of the daily commute from Lake Erie one may witness along the shore of the lake with gulls making their way inland at dawn to return in the late afternoon. Mourning Dove - 275 Rock Pigeon - 61 Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2 Downy Woodecker - 2 Hairy Woodpecker - 1 Northern Flicker - 2 Horned Lark - 215 Blue Jay - 20 American Crow - 17 Black-capped Chickadee - 1 Tufted Titmouse - 1 White-breasted Nuthatch - 4 American Robin - 1 European Starling - 3360 American tree Sparrow - 49 Song Sparrow - 2 Dark-eyed Junco - 32 Lapland Longspur - 240 (T122 was especially good) Snow Bunting - 20 Northern Cardinal - 16 Red-winged Blackbird - 44 Brown-headed Cowbird - 134 House Finch - 1 American Goldfinch - 21 House Sparrow - 120 39 species

Rough-legged Hawks were similarly affected.

Vic Fazio
Shaker Hts, OH

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