Christmas Bird Count, in the late 80's

The Columbus Dispatch article

Last time I was at my aunt and uncle's house, they wanted to share this article they found. It was from back in the 1985-89' timeframe we think. Fellow birder and nature lover James Fry would write a bi-weekly article for the Columbus Dispatch. I remember as a young birder meeting with and birding with Jim Fry out at Pickerington Ponds, Greenlawn Cemetery and Clear Creek Metro Park in Hocking county.

My father and uncle Mike helped conduct the annual CBC that year at Hoover, and even uncle Mike spotted the American Woodcock.  As you can ready, my father Buddy with ID help, confirmed the Baird's sandpiper, too bad this was not his illustration of the bird. 

This article shows how much change in the birding world we have seen in the decades since.  Birds that are common place now, where spare back then; and today it's hard to imagine that a house finch would be considered rare. So take a read and enjoy a little bit of Christmas Bird Count and central Ohio birding history.

Next up:  Spring Break 2016!!! Birds Birds and more life Birds . . .

#BIGYEAR2015 in review

Happy New Year!!! 2016, can you believe it? Wow has the time gone by fast.  This post is a recap of the year that was #BigYear2015, all the fun stuff, places visited, good times and future plans. Below are some of the highlights.

Buddy's oil painting, never finished . . .

• 13 lifers--Wow!! Not a bad year, but in 2014 I had 29 lifers, but this year was different. I did not travel as much and stayed home a lot. I am still thankful of the trips taken, birds seen, and friends I've been with making memories and good blog posts! Thank you all and God Bless.                                                                                                                    My ABA Bird of the Year is . . . .the code 2 Atlantic Puffin in Maine. I choose this bird because of the trip. It's not every day or even year that someone gets to Maine for birding. Plus, I felt the Puffin was part of my Retracing the Steps I needed to do.  My Ohio Bird of the Year, was the Brambling, an arctic rarity that popped up in Medina county December 28th. Oddly enough, the first and ONLY report of a Brambling in Ohio, was back in March of 1987, after a snow storm, where?? In Medina county 5 miles away from the 2015 bird. What a great bird, and I didn't have to travel to Alaska like most to see it. Like my father Buddy who in May 1980 saw Brambling on Attu isalnd, AK.

• 5 states--Ohio, Texas, Maine, Nevada, Washington

• 322 species--Keeping it honest. I finished with 322 for the year, that's OK, still over 300, too bad I didn't bird more in Ohio.  I missed many commons this year. This puts me at a 339 species per year average over 3 years. STATS.  In 2013 & 2014 I visited 7 states, so less travel in 2015, less birds. 

•  Rarities seen in 2015--

             Code 4 Gray-crowned Yellow Throat
             Code 3 Hook-billed Kite, Tropical Parula, Aplomado Falcon, Clay-colored Thrush, Ruff, Brambling, Black-headed Gull

• Misses--Yeah there was a lot of them, especially Ohio species. I need to bird OHIO. I missed a lot of warblers and winter birds. So in 2016, my goal will be to get them early and keep trying.  Misses included: 

        Long-tailed duck, White-winged Scooter, Greater Scaup,  Cackling Goose, Ross Goose, Broad-winged Hawk, Upland Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Buff-breasted sp., Silt, Solitary, Barids sp., Long-eared Owl, Short-eared, Snowy, Barred, Barn owls, both Cuckoo's, Bell's, Philadelphia Vireo, Pine, Yellow-throated, Hooded, Cerulean, & Connecticut Warblers, Vesper Sparrow, Dickcissel, Rusty Blackbird, Blue Grosbeak, Bank Swallow, Lapland LS, Common Nighthawk, Brown Thrasher, Orchard Oriole, and Pine Siskins

• 2016 trips--So far two planned trips, but likely some to follow. 

           1. Mid March--Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas--lifers needed include a trip to King Ranch
               Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Sprague's Pipit and other Mexican rarities & sunglasses
           2. Las Vegas/Corn Creek, Nevada-- March, right after Texas trip -- lifers needed include
               Sage Thrasher, Sagebrush Sparrow and others?
           3. Seattle, Washington--maybe? 5 years in a row out there, still could use a Northwest Crow
           4. Ohio-- I still need Iceland Gull & Thayers Gull!!  I need cold snowy ice weather.  Biggest week in American Birding--you know where to find us May 6th-15th
           5. Chase a rarity. Can this be the year of a Code 5 chase??

• show ideas/"B2B"/videos-- I did a couple of videos out in the field birding this year.  What did you think??  The Puffin boat trip and Ruff blog posts have them. How about My Youtube show "Between 2 Birds",   I need to find another birder and film show #2.  Any other ideas you suggest? Please let me know in the comments section below. 

Looks like the painting

Atlantic Puffin #570

Mr. Ohio . . .

all the way from Alaska

#T4P in 2015

Starting over in 2016

Next up: Let's start of #2016BigYear with a . . . ?

New Year's Eve Day Ohio run

Well, there is only one day left in 2015 . . . and I have some time off . . . and the weather is dry . . . and there are some rarities showing up north . . . so off to races we go for the last day of BigYear2015

Let's try one more time at that rare Code 4 Kelp Gull that's been seen off/on on Springfield Lake in Akron. We tried on Dec 13th to see the gull on roost at daybreak, and no luck that day. It had taken off for flight before daybreak. And sure enough, we got there again before daybreak, but by the time it was light enough to see, the Kelp Gull was not seen. So he remains elusive.  But we did see 2 Lesser-Black Backed Gulls for new first of year birds(FOYs).

By 8am, we where on the move north to a Medina County farmhouse on Remsen Road next to Allardale Park. Why?? Because since 12/28 a very rare Eurasian species called a . . . .

Brambling Lifer # 573

Brambling: A Eurasian species, common but irregular as a migrant in the Bering Sea region, including the Aleutians; casual in fall and winter in southern Alaska; accidental south to Canada and northwestern U.S. states. My father Buddy saw this bird on 5/18/1980 on Attu Island, Aleutain chain AK

Here is a great link about this bird being seen in Ohio.
http://www.cleveland.com/neobirding/index.ssf/2015/12/history_repeats_itself_for_2nd.html

American Tree Sparrow(left)

Also there at the farm house feeders, another FOY . . .

Purple Finch, male

PUFI with Goldfinch

 

2 FOYs down and an amazing lifer!!! Now off to the lake for some ducks & more gulls!!

We stopped by Sims Park in Euclid, OH looking for reports of the female King Eider  . . . but could not locate it. Even with 3 other birders showing up, still a miss.
So then we drove down to Cleveland and Burke Lakefront Airport, looking for Snowy Owls on the runways, but could find any white blobs, so another year bird miss.  But then we get reports from the OH listserv, gulls over at Whiskey Park/Coast Guard station. So we are off!!

Very famous bird place on Lake Erie

This is where you go if you want to practice birding if you where in Alaska.  Lots of winds, little shelter, lots of birders with scopes, starting at hundreds/thousands of gulls, looking for that one or two different gull with underside wings in blackish, or gulls with Red legs and bill . . . .

Black-headed Gull #574

see red bill pointing down?

on right, just legs and bill

A common gull of the Old World, Black-headed Gull is a rare, but regular visitor to eastern North America. Rare Code 3 bird in ABA, but seen more regularly. Again, Buddy saw this bird in breeding plumage on Attu in 1980.

 

So not a bad finish to the day. I ended up with 30 total species, 4 FOYs, with 2 Life Birds, both rare ABA Code 3's.  Very nice and thank you Ohio for being such a good state again.

My grandparents Red&Louise have never seen the Brambling, but do have BHGUL in 1982-84 when they too went to Alaska. 

Next up:   BigYear 2015 year in review.  How many? What places? Lifers? What's next?

Seahawks??

Nope, no Seahawks seen this trip. No Osprey either. But I did end up with my life bird Varied Thrush. So it was a good trip.  Below is a recap of places birded and trip list from Seattle 2015.

Friday--Juanita Bay Park in Kirtland for the Red-breasted SapSucker, no luck
             Washington Park Arboretum--wait, is that a Varied Thrush?? just ducked down, does that count?

Saturday--Discovery Park birdwalk with Seattle Audubon.  http://www.seattleaudubon.org/sas/GetInvolved/GoBirding/NeighborhoodBirdWalks.aspx

                Same walk and leaders as 2014, so it was nice to see familiar faces! The park is big and has several types of habitats. So many of the local birds are there.  Many first of year(FOY) birds and even my lifer. Best bang for your buck birding spot if you are in downtown. I've birded there 3 of my 4 trips to WA.

Is there a bird in this pic?

50x times ZOOM!! BOOM!!

Merlin, juvi

 FOY

Varied Thrush, #572

Discovery Park last year got me #558--Pacific Wren 10/18/14
#559--Harlequin Duck 10/18/14. Gotta love this place.







Monday--Edmunds Marsh, Edmunds Pier/Sunset Ave.
                  The marsh is good for ducks and shorebirds. There is a nice boardwalk and history to this place. Just half mile from there, at the ferry pier is Brackett's Landing. This place is hot too! And just as last year, I saw a raft of Rhinoceros Auklets out toward the bay. Several more scooters, gulls, & cormorants.


 Trip Stats:
 108 hours in Washington
 4     Uber trips
 54  total species
19  FOYs--Notables
(American Wigeon, Surf Scoter, Common Merganser, Pelagic Cormorant, Merlin, Heermann's, Mew, Glaucous-Winged Gull, Rhinoceros Auklet, Band-tailed Pigeon, Anna's Hummingbird, Steller's Jay, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bushtit, Bewicks Wren, Pacific Wren, Varied Thrush, Fox Sparrow, Golden-Crowned Sp, Western Meadowlark)
  1 LIFER, now at ABA#572

 Next up: Birds, birds, birds,  . . . I need to finish 2015 in Ohio STRONG!!

Washington +1 Lifer!!

Varied Thrush

 . . . And the streak continues!! Back from my fourth trip to Washington state, and I get to tick off another life bird off the list.  This time, at Discovery Park after the birdwalk, up in a tree about 125 yards away . . .

Ixoreus naevius

ABA #572

Bold black band across rusty-orange breast

The Varied Thrush seen in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, with their towering conifers and wet understories of ferns, shrubs, and mosses. Catch a glimpse of this shy bird and you’ll see a handsome thrush with a slaty gray back and breast band set against burnt-orange breast and belly. Common in the Cascades, Northern Rockies, and Pacific Coast, Varied Thrushes forage for insects in summer and switch to berries and seeds in winter.

Both males and females make a variety of calls, usually in aggression or defense. Those calls include a short trill, a harsh churrr, and a series of low chect notes. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Varied_Thrush/sounds

#birdwalk

Gambill family history of seeing a Varied Thrush:
My dad Buddy has his first observation on 12/23/1979 in Findley State Park, Ohio
Red & Louise have seen many through out their years of birding, starting in 1982, 84', 86' and on.

Next up: Washington trip round up . . what's next??

Seattle Hit list

Well, it's that time of year again, a fall visit to the Pacific Northwest!!!  This will mark my fourth year in a row visiting Seattle. Aug 12', Sept 13', and Oct 14' & 15'.  I'm visiting my best friend and his wife again since they moved out there from Ohio. It's a great trip, and since they live in downtown Seattle, I am limited on my travels for birding. So no trips to the mountains, islands, coasts or pelagics, but I"m getting pretty good at city parks and Edmunds pier/marsh.





Current ABA list list: 571
Last one seen: Clark's Nutcracker  9/10/15

Lifers needed:

• Varied Thrush code 1, will Discovery Park payoff finally??
• Northwest Crow code 1, ferry/car trip to Gardiner 
• Parasitic Jaeger code 1, at Discovery Park flying off the coast maybe
• Red-Breasted Sapsucker code 1, again the pines at Discovery park, recent sightings
• Marbled Murrelet code 1, Edmunds pier/ferry ride
• Cassin's Vireo code 1, city parks, one of three from Solitary Vireo split                      "Blueheaded-Plumbeous-Cassin's."

I'd like better looks at:
  Pigeon Guillemot
  Rhinoceros Guillemot 

Next up:  Sleepless in Seattle???

RUFF !! local

It was spring break week back in 1992. I was a freshman in high school. I was fresh off my 500th bird in the fall of 1991.  My dad Buddy would take me down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the week. We had a beach house there, that he would have to get ready for summer rental season. It was back then on April 21,1992 in Nags Head, NC that I saw my life bird Ruff. I don't remember any details, but it was in my book, so I'm sure dad made sure I saw that damn bird!!!

Fast forward 23 years later, and BOOM!!!  A juvenile Ruff was spotted on Friday 25th at the north Hoover mudflats in Galena, OH. Two days later, the chase was on.

Ruff

Philomachus pugnax

taken from the boat

Code-3: Rare.
Species that occur in very low numbers, but annually, in the ABA Checklist Area. This includes visitors and rare breeding residents. Mostly east coast and California coasts.

Juvenile

Ring-billed Gulls, Greater Yellowlegs, Ruff in the middle

The ruff is a migratory species, breeding in wetlands in colder regions of northern Eurasia, and spends the northern winter in the tropics, mainly in Africa-Senegal. The largest numbers breed in Russia (more than 1 million pairs), Sweden (61,000 pairs), Finland (39,000 pairs) and Norway (14,000 pairs). Of the various Eurasian shorebirds that stray into North America, this one is the most regular and widespread in its occurrence.



Gambill family history of seeing a Ruff:
My dad Buddy has his first observation on 4/10/1979 in Wooster, Ohio
Red & Louise have seen many through out their years of birding, I just don't have an exact date.