Ohio Reign; updated 12/18

Well, this is it. The last month of the #BigYear2016.  Boy what a ride it's been. I've done a lot more birding in Ohio this year, thus I've seen many missed species of 2015. I'm down  to 27 total days left in December, but with work and a Christmas vacation in Cabo, I really only have 4 good birding days left. So let's see what gifts I can unwrap in time for the big one!

My last new year bird seen was from my Seattle trip, the Golden-Crown Kinglet, #344 in Tacoma, WA on 10/25/16.

So off to the Ohio races . . .


#345 Red-Throated Loon 11/12 Buck Creek SP

#346 Bonaparte Gull  11/12 Buck Creek SP, 

Bramblon w Jay

But I did get to see and bird with BigYear2013 birder Jay Lehman, Cincinnati. He finished at #734, and at the time was #4 in BigYear history.

#347 Black Scoter 11/13 Alum Creek Res. & 11/16 Sims Park, Euclid


 

22 scooters at Alum Creek

Male Black Scooter, orange bill, Sims

 

Gotta have a scope!

 #348 Red-breasted Merganser 11/16 Sims Park, Euclid

#349 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  11/24 Riverside Green Park, Dublin, no pic yet
#350 Winter Wren 11/24 Kiwanis Park, Dublin

damn twig

I love my Cannon SX60

#351 Lesser black-backed Gull 12/4 Findlay Reservoir

Can you find 2 LBBG's??

#352 Great Black-backed Gull

Immature GBBG, huge

#353 Cavasback duck 12/7 Upper Sandusky Reservoir 

Male, red eye

#354 Rough-legged Hawk 12/7 KillDeer Plains WR

Note size, hoovering, wing patterns

#355 Short-earred Owls  12/7 Big Island WR in Marion Ohio, no pic

#356 Common Merganser  12/17 Prairie Oaks Metro Park

female trio

 







Well, that leaves me with 3 more Ohio birds to get, just for the tie.  #359 in 2014 is my personal best. It's going to be close race to the finish line. I need owls, waterfowl/ducks, geese, buntings, gulls. It can be done, wish me luck

Next up: Tic Toc watch that clock 2016

Seattle 16' roundup

Well well well, it's the month of October again, and guess where I just visited? Seattle, Washington. This was my fifth year in a row visiting my best friends out in the Evergreen State. My tally has been Aug 12', Sept 13', Oct 14', 15' & 16' for visits. After this time, I know I can't go in October any more. Maybe springtime for pacific flyway migration or fall time again, but do a pelagic into the Pacific ocean or something.

I did bird two new parks this time. So new places DO produce new birds, just not any lifers seen on this trip. I did however get 15 FOYs and some great pictures of my only second viewing of a Varied Thrush.

Birding itinerary  
List of FOYs seen that day

• Friday--Marymoor Park am, Edmunds Pier & Edmunds Marsh pm

Black capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Surf scooter
Pelagic Cormorant
Western Grebe
Horned Grebe
Heermans's Gull
California Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Wilson's Snipe
 

Marsh

I see you

Wilson's Snipe

•  Saturday--Discover Park, Seattle Audubon walk, am

Golden-crowned Sparrow
Varied Thursh
Bushtit

Discovery Park, South meadows overlook

Flock of Robins & a

Varied Thrush!!

Oh, have I mentioned how much I love my Cannon SX60 camera. I mean with a 65x zoom, you can go from the above picture with the arrow, to all the way zoomed in for the below close up. WOW. I highly recommend the SX50 or 60 models for a simple all-in-one mobile birding camera. Great warranty too!!

Bushtit, female, light eye

Life bird #572 10/24/2015

• Monday--Billy Frank Jr Nisqually NWR in Tacoma, am

Cackling Goose
Golden-crowned Kinglet

duck duck GOOSE!?!

Aleutian Cackling Goose

Pacific Cackling Goose

 
 









Food: You have to talk about the food when you visit Seattle, it's amazing . . expensive . . . but amazing.  Some eats including award winning Calm Chowder from Duke's in Tacoma, Fried Oysters, Ahi Tuna steak, Sausage & peppers, and good olde Rainier beer
Some other pictures from the trip

SR 522 toll bridge, $4-6 each way

Peregrine Falcon

Tacoma Dome

Northern Pintail

#2016BigYear -- #344 birds

My goal this year was to break my personal best for birding in a year since 2012. That was in 2014 when I saw 359 bird including trips to FL, CO, MO, NV & WA

So wish me luck on my last 16 birds. Ohio here I come!!  Bring on the winter migrants that I missed early in the year. Believe me, there is some easy ones I need.

Next up: Ohio or Bust@!

Ohio Countdown

check the drawings by

Well, well, well . .  fall migration has started. Time to get into birding mode. First come the sandpipers, so look for habitats that host low water. Then the warblers are coming back through the forest, so lets go walk in the woods some. Then maybe if we're lucky, some rarity . . . like a code 3 . . could make an appearance in Ohio. So be on the lookout and remember to get out and BIRD!

Below is my list of seen recently, and the remaining Ohio birds I can get thru December. Wish me luck

8/16--BlueGrosbeak #319, Orchard Oriole #320

Otto Armleader Park, Cinncy-OH

8/28--Baird's Sandpiper #321  Hoover Resivour

Small to medium-sized sandpiper

Long wings extend past end of tail

Mallards, Pectoral Sandpiper

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Sedge Wren 2016--Lifer #553 seen on 8/6/14, same place

Nelson's Sparrow #329

 

Yellow-bellied empidx #327

Sanderling #326

Needs list:
Swamp sparrow #328 10/16 Ellis Wetlands Butler cty
Canada warbler
Blackpoll warbler
Grey-checked Thrush
Least Empidx
Forster's Tern
Common Tern
Black Tern
GBBG
LBBG
Franklins
Bonapartes
Wilson Snipe
Godwits
Semi-palm Plover #325 9/15 Hoover Resivour
A. Golden Plover
VA Rail
Glossy Ibis
Least Bittern
Brown Pelcan
Red Neck Grebe
Horned Grebe
RB Merganser
Common Merganser
Canvasback
Rough legged Hawk
Short earred owl
YBSS
Winter wren
Golden Crown Kinglet
Red Breasted Nuthatch #322 9/10 Ohio Blendon Woods
Mourning Warbler #323 9/13 Ohio Blendon Woods
Connecticut Warbler #324 9/13 Ohio Blendon Woods
Sanderling #326 Ohio Hoover Resivour 
Yellow-bellied Empidx #327 Ohio Kiwanis Park 
Nelson's Sparrow #329 Ellis Wetlands Butler cty

Next up: Ohio fall migration . . . Seattle, WA in late October

Summer birding, blogs & buds

It's been a long and hot summer here in Columbus. Since Memorial Day weekend, I've gotten a chance to bird Ohio more. Usually on Sunday mornings, I get out for 2-4 hours and I've picked up some Ohio birds I missed last year. So with a combination of a hot & humid summer and small FOY birding ticks, its been more of a reading summer. I want to share some of the birding bloggers I follow and resources I use for birding information.

http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.com/

The naked birder!! Mr. Olaf did an au naturel big year in 2013 and saw 594 birds. What ever that means. But this year, he decided to do a full blown big year, no expense. He has seen the most birds in the shortest amount of time. He got bird #400 Black-backed Woodpecker by January 31st. He hit #700 Rock Ptarmigan on the Alaskan island of Adak by May 29th. He is the man!!

http://www.birdingfordevils.com/

Late to game, but jumped right into first place! Australian big year birder Mr. John Weigel has made his mark this year with an all out blix. Funny story, we birded with John on March 15th at the King Ranch when I got Ferrugious Pygmy-Owl and Sprague's Pipit. Congratulations John on a truly great Big Year. Can he break 770??!!

John Wiegel, right

http://www.thebirdingproject.com/

I'd like you to meet the youngest birder to hit 700 ABA birds in one calendar year. Mr. Christian H. We've actually meet him twice this year. Back on April 30th at the thrasher spot outside Buckeye, AZ. And again two weeks later at the Biggest Week in American Birding at Magee Marsh, OH. Yes, he drove there. He actually interviewed me for his The Birding Project.
http://www.thebirdingproject.com/blog/2016/5/8/brad


http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/

Jim is our local Ohioan, a guy that has a love for the outdoors, a true naturalist. From bugs and birds to trees and history of all things, this is a great blog read to always learn MORE.

http://thespeckledhatchback.blogspot.com/

Dorian is the man!! I mean MAN, the guy did a BIGYEAR2014 all on his bike. From beginning to end, day to night, sleep to eat. He never rode in a car, flew in a plane or any gas powered vehicle. He bird in the morning, then bike to his next pit stop, slept and start over again in the morning. Oh and he saw a record 617 total species - - - on a bike!?!  This hatchback blog he has, is his 2015 updates with pictures, Costa Rica trip, and environmental topics. He's cool and a great birder.


Resources:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org

http://birding.aba.org/maillist/OH

http://www.aba.org/

For Fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaX7i1Q7-Rw
Things Birders Say

Ohio birds ticked
5/30-Cerulean, Worm-eating, Veery, Louis. water-thrush, Broad-winged hawk, Willow empidx, King Rail
6/8 -Mute swan
6/12-Hooded, Rose-breasted, Summer Tanager
6/26-Blue-winged, Common Loon
7/15-Great crested empidx, Sedge Wren
7/17-Bank, Semiplam sp, Silt, Pectoral 

@318 for the year, four states OH, TX, NV, AZ


Next up:  Trip to Cincinnati for birthday, beers, and birds

BWIAB +1 Lifer

It's time for another annual trip up to Magee Marsh, or Crane Creek is what it was called in the 80's. This year marked the fourth year in a row I got to bird there. During spring migration, the northwest shores of Lake Erie is a hot spot for warblers, cuckoos, orioles, bluejays, etc. Birders from all over the U.S. and, internationals birders come to see the wood warblers diversity of the east.

This year, we did it a little different. It was going to be a true day of #24hoursofbirding. Sun up to sun down--same day. We left Delaware at 5am for the two hour drive up to the boardwalk.

Beautiful rocky beach at sunrise

The plan stayed the same, start at the West entrance at 7am and bird that and the Estuary trail by 10am, then head over to Ottawa NWR for the auto tour. Note to self, don't do the auto tour any more. The water was too high, so no ducks or peeps to see, just a lot of slow driving, and you can waste an hour. Next year I think we are going to hit up Maumee SP boadrwalk first, then Magee Boardwalk around 10ish.

Where's Brad??

#Brambleon

This is what happens when you are on the boardwalk, and someone says "Black-billed Cuckoo" . . . birders mass in together to get best looks. All looking up a the trees. It can get crazy when specialties show up.




So what happens next is crazy.  We are on the auto tour, stuck, driving slowly, not seeing any birds but Yellow Warblers. We are getting ready to head to Metzger Marsh when we can exit this mess. I start to check twitter #biggestweek, and a tweet comes out, "Curlew Sandpiper" with a picture of the bird from a camera screenshot, from a reliable birder and a Google GPS coordinate. Then, we get a text from Sammy, who's at work, but following reports online. Curlew Sandpiper? I thought this was a joke. I look again, another positive report. I check the directions on the app, only 50 miles west of here. What do we do??


Time to chase an ABA Code 3 rarity lifer that has no business being in Ohio. I mean, there is one being reported at the same time in New Jersey, so migration is a real thing for these birds, but interior states is not included. We hustle over there by 2pm and sure enough, when you see a lot of cars and a lot of birders, you know something big is going on.

What are we looking at?

ABA lifer #586

Curlew Sandpiper

Dunlin on left

The curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. It is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in Africa, but also in south and southeast Asia and in Australasia. It is a vagrant to North America.







The breeding adult has patterned dark grey upperparts and brick-red underparts.

So, with that, another day of birding and another day of adding an unexpected LifeBird. Boy, we needed that. Its days like this that make it worth while. After this, we dediced to head back south to home. We stopped at Big Island wildlife refuge and picked up Bobolink, Common Gallinule, Black-bellied Plover, Red-headed woodpecker. 

Big Day numbers:
88 total species
26 FOYs
15 wood warblers
  1 life bird

History Big Day birding:
2013--94 species
2014--120
2015--111
2016--88

Curlew Sandpiper:
Red&Louise--saw it as bird #655 in 1983, then again in 1985, 89', 94'
Buddy--saw this bird, but I don't have a date or location. Probably Alaska.


Next up:  Where do I go from here?