Migrant Ducks Rest in Small Pond on Way North

Mixed migrant flock resting on small pond near Apple Valley includes a male scaup (black-and-white, second or third from left) and canvasback ducks (flock on right, males red-white-and-black).  (Photo by Don Comis)

In the middle of the flock of canvasback ducks, I spotted a probable male northern shoveler, distinguished by the rufous color on his side.  (Photo by Don Comis)

A male northern shoveler takes flight, likely with his mate, while a male mallard and male northern shoveler swim peacefully.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Before going grocery shopping in Mt. Vernon this afternoon, I stopped by Apple Valley Lake and took another look at some of the interesting waterfowl showing up there lately--loons, pie-billed grebes, horned grebes, and hooded mergansers.  My friends, Debbie Hurlbert and Jon Minard, could name more.

They happened by on their bird patrol as I was taking photos the other day at the Lake's dam and spillway and identified the horned grebes for me. Jon, a long-time eagle watcher, also told me he's been seeing an adult pair of bald eagles on the lake, sounding like he thinks they'll build a nest next year nearby.  Although there are plenty of eagles in the area and some that frequent the lake, there aren't any nesting along the lakeshore.

They also alerted me to a mixed flock of migrant ducks at a small pond near a strip mall just outside of the entrance to the Apple Valley development.  The ducks include redheads, canvasbacks, and scaups.  The redheads and scaups are headed back to the the western United States, Alaska, and northwestern Canada; and the canvasbacks are going to Canada and northwestern United States.

I checked out that pond again today, too.  The flock was much smaller than the 65 I counted days ago, but there was still diversity.  I'm pretty sure I saw four northern shovelers, the first I've seen, at least by myself, three males and one female. I also counted 8 canvasbacks (5 males and 3 females) and 3 scaups (2 males and 1 female).  I think the canvasbacks are more strikingly beautiful than the redheads.

The northern shovelers are resting on their journey back to America's West, Alaska, and northwestern Canada.

As I neared home, I saw what I think was a Great Blue Heron flying overhead, which would be my first heron sighting in a long time.

Knock-Knock, Who's There?

Male Northern Flicker  (Photo by Don Comis)

 Female Red-Bellied Woodpecker (Photo by Don Comis)

What would you do if a two-story giant musician decided to use your house as a drum set?

That's exactly what a house sparrow couple in my yard did this morning when a northern flicker woodpecker did just that to their birdhouse--flee.

Since late winter, we had gotten used to being awakened by a red-bellied woodpecker drumming on our gutters and our neighbors' gutters.  I had to explain to my neighbors that when male woodpeckers get ready for mating season they start looking for drums--things they can peck on and make a louder than usual noise so they can send a message far and wide:  "I'm strong and this is my territory--no male woodpeckers allowed, seeking only  female for mate!"

It's a little like Tarzan beating his chest.

But, still I was shocked this morning to see a northern flicker using a birdhouse as a hollow drum.  And so were the sparrows!!

By the way, the red-bellied now wakes us up with a softer drilling sound as he pecks on a dead tree trunk, either looking for insects or widening a tree cavity for a nesting site, having found a mate.

Saving the Monarch Butterfly

You can start saving monarch butterflies by planting milkweed in your yard.  And, you can buy seedlings of common butterfly and butterfly weed (a compact milkweed) for $1 each at the Earth Day festival at Kenyon College on Sunday, April 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.   The seedlings will be sold at the Brown Family Environmental Center's booth at the festival, which will also have live monarch butterflies on display.

Populations of monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico have crashed this winter, reaching nearly rock bottom, after a long-term decline starting with the winter of 1997-1998.  The butterflies were not only a week late in arriving in Mexico last November, but their numbers were the lowest yet, 94 percent less than the record high in the winter of 1996-1997.

Heather Doherty, program manager of the Brown Center, describes the problem--and some solutions--in the Center's April newsletter, which is online at their website .
The easiest place to start, she says, are out lawns, where we can carve out some space for milkweed.

The Frontier of Ecology is in Our Yards, Not the Arctic

That reminds me of the theme of the annual conference of the Baltimore-Washington Partners for Forest Stewardship I attended in 2011:  The frontier of ecology is in your backyard.   conference theme at a conference I went to several years ago in Maryland:  The frontier of ecology is in our yards.  The point is that solutions to problems such as global warming and declines in species like the monarch butterfly lie in the backyards of cities and suburbs.  This is because it is in such developed areas that the causes arise, not in faraway places like the Arctic where the results show up most dramatically.

Weather is Right, But No Salamanders Yet

Northern dusky salamander along Little Jelloway Creek in Howard, Ohio, on August 1, 2013.  (Photo by Don Comis)

It's 54 degrees Fahrenheit here in Howard, Ohio, at 3:35 a.m., with rain on and off, but no salamanders.  At least not up to 1:30 this morning.

I went out to the vernal pool at Kenyon College with a lantern flashlight with a red film screwed in and sat in a camp chair from midnight to 1:30 a.m.  Nothing and no eggs in the pool, so the mass migration of salamanders hadn't taken place yet.

It could still happen until the temperature drops to the predicted 32 degrees, but I doubt it. 

Maybe the salamanders know it could snow today.

The only animals I saw were a rabbit and deer.  I heard a few scary dog barks and a scary animal scream, plus smelled a musky animal fear smell, and saw a small creature run away.

Well, I'll consider this a practice run that's getting me familiar again with Nature at dark.

Moths Outnumber Birds and Butterflies--March 28, 2014

Photograph of "rosy maple moth" by Jim McCormac, on back cover of the Ohio Department of  Natural Resources Division of Wildlife's newest free field guide, "Moths of Ohio", published in March 2014.

Ailanthus webworm moth.  I call this the Hawaiian moth because it looks like it has hibiscus flowers on its wings.  This it the first moth in the new field guide, probably because it is so unusual and pretty looking for a moth.  It resembles a beetle, possibly a defense from predators, because beetles are foul-tasting, although I haven't tried eating them.  (I took this photo on  July 30, 2012 at my mother-in-law's house in Howard, Ohio.)

After receiving an unexpected free new field guide to moths of Ohio in the mail today, I'm getting fired up about photographing moths at my porch lights again.

I got it in the mail because I had failed to attend an Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife annual conference this month because of winter weather fears.

I've gotten much needed help from other of their field guides, all free, especially those on salamander and frogs, and butterflies.

This should help me suggest identifications for the moths I photograph and submit to the "Butterflies and Moths of North America" website, http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org.

There are over 3,000 known species of moths in Ohio.   Throughout the United States, you can assume each county has about 500 species.

Expanding to include Canada gives us nearly 10,500 known moth species.  To bring this into context, there are only 765 species of butterflies and about 765 birds in North America, above Mexico.  And moths outnumber butterflies 14 to 1 overall.  In Ohio, it's at least 20 to 1. 

Tips from DNR Expert for Seeing Mass Salamander Migration

Longtail salamander on his way to freedom after release from my container, along the Kokosing River in Millwood, Ohio, on August 7, 2013.  (Photo by Don Comis)

After getting tips from Jim McCormac, with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, (JimMcCormac.blogspot.com), I'm convinced for the first time that I will see the mass salamander migration when it occurs at Kenyon College.

I wrote to him on his blog last night and this morning, here was his thorough answer:

"Above 50 degrees is best, although the animals will move in smaller numbers in the 40's. It doesn't matter if it is actually raining, just that it has recently and the ground is wet. This often means being out in the rain, though. Usually amphibians are moving by 9 pm if conditions are right, and may continue all night if conditions remain warm and wet enough."

This means that I was wrong that it had to be raining during the migration.  It also means that the  migration goes on from about 9 p.m. to just before daybreak.  So I can arrive anytime during that six hour window.  All I have to do is keep an eye out on a day with rain in the forecast and a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees or more, the more the better, during the night.

So, for example, this Friday is promising as far as rain during the day probably leaving the ground wet that night and a high of 54 degrees Fahrenheit.  But, the night low will be below 40 degrees F.  That night, around 8 p.m., I'll have to go outside and see if the ground is wet from the day's rains and check the temperature.  If it stays 54 degrees F, say, at 8 p.m., it would be worth a try.  But it doesn't sound like a night that a mass migration will continue for six hours.

That might mean I have to try a two hour watch on two or three nights to see the biggest migration, but that's doable, compared to staying out all night and doing that more than few times!

Hope for Salamander Migration Soon

One of the first salamanders I've captured and learned to photograph as they "escape" the container I place them in.  I photographed this northern red on July 28, 2013, along Little Jelloway Creek near Apple Valley.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Probably the first frog I've photographed successfully.  This northern leopard frog was quite a ham, once I learned I couldn't use the salamander release trick to photograph him or her.  He would just jump out of sight when the container was opened.  So I just followed him along the banks of the Kokosing River in Millwood, Ohio, until he "froze",  hoping I wouldn't see him.  (Photographed on August 7, 2013 by Don Comis)

Jim McCormac's blog last night gave me hope that I still have a shot at seeing the mass migration of salamanders to vernal pools where they mate and lay eggs.  He confirms that this tough winter has delayed the mass migration, while individual salamanders and frogs have made the trip.

But the mass migration triggered by the combination of night, rain, and warm temperatures hasn't happened yet.  He believes it will happen in a week or two.  Right now, I'm guessing Thursday or Friday, based on weather forecasts.

In taking a back route the other day to a pond near my house to photograph a flock of redhead ducks, canvasbacks, and scaups, I found a mini-pond near wet woodland near the big pond.  This mini-pond is much bigger than the vernal pool I'm looking at in Gambier, Ohio.  Last year, I dismissed it when it looked only like a drainage gully.  The major snows of this winter must have swelled this vernal pool, if that's what it is.

I can confirm it by asking questions of the neighbors of the pool or by checking for eggs or waiting to see if it dries up in late summer as vernal pools do.   If it turns out to be one, it would be the first vernal pool I found on m own.  And it will be in my neighborhood, which I wished for.

This was the best I could do as I hid from this skittish flock of redheads, canvasbacks, and scaups on a recent evening.  The possible vernal pool in my neighborhood is near this full-sized pond.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Monarch Butterflies in Critical Stage

The days of the annual migration of monarch butterflies to central Mexico may be numbered, according to a recent report cited in the March 2014 newsletter of the East Central Ohio Audubon Society.

Studies that began in 1993 showed that this winter the migration reached an all time low, part of a long-term trend.  The acreages of trees covered with monarchs was down to 1.65 acres this winter, from a high of 44.5 acres in 1995.

What can we do?  For one thing, we can plant monarch butterfly gardens--milkweed plants for the caterpillars to devour and nearby nectar plants for the adult butterflies to sip on--and pollinate.  That suggestion comes from "Monarch Watch" (http://www.monarchwatch.org).

The nonprofit organization sells milkweed seeds and plants as well as seeds of recommended nectar plants.  It also offers other ways to get involved, such as rearing monarch butterflies and tagging them on release.  And it sells kits for these activities as well.

There is also a program for monitoring caterpillars on milkweed plants in our neighborhoods, either on a weekly or incidental basis.

Bumblebee Watch

I like citizen science programs so much that I just signed up for "Bumblee Watch" (http://www.bumblebeewatch.org) after reading about it in the April/May 2014 issue of "National Wildlife" magazine.

I like projects like this in which I can send in photos of bugs "in the wild", without capturing or harming them, and get them identified by experts.  It gives me the kind of positive feedback I need to go on with a task like that and not give up.  Plus I help researchers conserve species.

I've been doing that with Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) at (http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org) for about a year.  In that time, with no knowledge or interest in moths, I was able to bring the total number of moths identified on that site for Knox County, Ohio, from 13 to more than 30.  And I have only been in this county for just under 2 years!

When you send photos, you can say, "I think this is a moth." or "I think this is a butterfly." or "I don't even know if it's a moth or a butterfly."  And you can go farther, if you can, and suggest which moth or butterfly it is.  With the help of a simple guide such as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources booklet on common butterflies of Ohio, you can quickly learn to identify a good 20 or more common butterflies.   Moths are harder, but you can suggest id's when you photograph a moth that looks like one you sent in and got identified by an expert.


"Bumblebee Watch" is intended to help save bumblebees.  The "National Widlife" article refers to a new analysis finding that "almost a third of North American bumblee species are declining, and some are threatened with extinction".   The article states that "four once-common...species have vanished from large portions of their former ranges.  A fifth may already be extinct.  Scientists are seeing similar losses in Europe, South America and Asia".

This can be a real loss to pollination, already threatened by the decline in European honeybee colonies.  Pollination by native bees is an important backup to honeybees.  They are more efficient pollinators than honeybees as well.

For information on other citizen science projects, please go to the "Citizen Science" button on the menu of my website at http://www.doncomis.simplesite.com.

My Screech Owl Stakeout--Mission Accomplished

Screech owl box the evening of March 17, 2014. (Photo by Don Comis)

I got all set to stake out the screech owl box tonight.  I got settled in my camp chair by 7 p.m., knowing that my neighbor's screech owl leaves his box a half hour before sunset, which WeatherBug lists as 7:40 p.m.  So if the box is an active list, as its stuffing with leaves suggests, I should see a screech owl or two come out at 7:10 p.m.

Once in a while I thought I saw movement and used my binoculars.  Nothing.  I let myself get distracted at times, checking out the nearby hawk's nest, looking for the woodpeckers' pecking, looking at a song sparrow.  But sometimes I even ignored a woodpecker when it seemed to be in the tree next to me.

I kept taking photos of the box to adjust for the lessening of light as the day came to a close.  But I didn't want to check my cell phone for fear that motion would alert the owl.  And there's something about sitting in a folding chair between a playground and a parking lot to the Apple Valley Clubhouse, dressed in camoflauge jacket and gloves, topped off by not one, but two, layers of red hunter hats, that makes a person think of more than just what time it is.

So when my creature appeared it seemed to be right on time.  I had wondered how an owl could move through all those leaves and fit through the hole.  I could see white, on its chest I thought.  I finally thought I could make out a small face and ears, and marveled at how the hole made the head look small.  There was room to spare for that head sticking out of the hole. Sometimes I thought the owl was making moves to fly out.

And then it became clear to me that this was no owl, but a squirrel.  Of course, how could I not have remembered that squirrels build their nests out of leaves.  This squirrel saw the box as opportunity.  All he would have to do is gather the dead oak leaves from the tree as usual, but now he could just stuff them into a ready-made box, rather than try to fit them on a trim limb or fork of a tree!

And I had been warned when building woodpecker houses that a squirrel might move into them.

But I continued to photograph the squirrel looking out of the box, moving closer a step or two at a time until convinced I had a reasonably close shot, without overly scaring the squirrel.

The time on the photograph showed he or she had come out at 7:32 p.m., 22 minutes late for a screech owl, but just 8 minutes shy of sunset.

I couldn't help but wonder why that squirrel woke up in the middle of that pile of leaves and looked out the hole.  Was he bored, wanting to see outside before it got dark?   He couldn't have heard me because I was so far from him.

I like to think he was enjoying the sunset and his lakeside view.

And I admire his safe home, where anyone looking normally would only see leaves, whether he was home or not.  Until he took the risk of poking his head out.

Why Are Robins Pecking at "Frozen" Ground Now?

I wondered why robins would be pecking at frozen ground.  Surely, there aren't any bugs or worms in the ground with these freezing nights?  That's what I and a friend thought.

But when I dug a hole today to plant a pine tree, the shovel went in easily and I saw two worms and a grub.  I also saw a beetle but he may have come out of a bag of mulch I emptied in the tree hole.  I had stored that bag since last summer at least in the garage.  It was intermixed with whole peanuts stored there by my garage dwelling mouse, who cached them from my bags of whole peanuts for the birds, or those I spilled.

Speaking of mice, I saw one, maybe the culprit, this evening when I straightened out a door mat on the deck, after the wind had upturned it.  To my shock and his or hers, I had exposed a field mouse that was hiding in the folded mat.  The mouse froze by the doorway for a second or two and then fled the deck for the bushes.  It had a long tail and looked like a field mouse.  I suspect he was after the bird seed spilled on the deck.

I plan to check the screech owl box tonight and the vernal pool tomorrow.  Conditions could be right for the salamander march to occur between midnight and 7 a.m. on Wednesday, March 19, if the 45 percent chance of rain pans out.

Screech Owls Lay Eggs in Mid-March

Screech owl in a neighbor's box.  My neighbor reports the owl comes out nightly a half hour before sunset.  (Photo by Debbie Hurlbert)

Screech owl box in a tree near Apple Valley Clubhouse, in park across from our home.  Photo taken Jan. 2, 2014 at 5:50 p.m., showing no leaves inside box or any signs of occupancy then.  (Photo by Don Comis)

I took a short walk today across the road to the park near the Apple Valley Clubhouse to check the lake for ducks and check out the screech owl bird house.

When I put my binoculars on the bird house, I saw it was stuffed with dried leaves.  Screech owls lay their eggs in Ohio in mid-March, so this might be an active nest.  I plan to check on this nest frequently, especially a half hour before sunset because a neighbor sees "his" screech owl leave the box provided in his yard that time daily.

The way this day was so cold and windy I could see why the owl might want all that insulation!  The lake was mostly frozen so I saw no signs of ducks.

I did see two crows yelling at a hawk, a flock of 12 robins, and two deer.  I knew to look whenever crows caw because they might be chasing a hawk, but I forgot that when the crows are fixed on a tree, I should look a few limbs below them.  The first time I looked I didn't see a hawk.  Later, on the walk home, I looked from another angle and saw the big bird below the crows.

Male mourning dove shows iridescent patch on neck that distinguishes him as a male to birdwatchers and doves of the opposite sex.  Photo taken January 25, 2014 at feeders on front deck of our home in Apple Valley in Howard, Ohio.  (Photo by Don Comis)

While watching a mourning dove chase a female dove around my feeders today, I was struck by a sudden flash of red, reminding me of the red wing badge of a sexually mature red-winged blackbird.  This confirmed my conviction it had to be a male doing the chasing and taught me that the iridescent spot on a male dove's neck may not be as subtle a signal as I thought.

The "spring" sun had hit the spot just right so it flashed at me from a distance, enabling me to know it was there without me being able to see it.  This makes me think that maybe the female sees it that way all the time?

In any case, this goes on my growing list of my favorite signs of spring.  And I'm finally convinced that the spring robins are here, after seeing 12 robins on a lawn in my neighborhood today.

I know woodcocks are doing mating dances and I've seen bluebirds go in out of their houses.  And I've had a pair of house sparrows building a nest for weeks now in one of my bluebird houses.  I've heard the calls of a pair of barred owls announcing they've picked a territory for their nest.  I know great horned owls were incubating eggs in February.

And a great number of butterflies are going to start flying in April and May in Ohio.  For me, the real spring is in mid-April, based on a memory of when I lived in Ohio in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  I just knew it was spring one day when it was warm and the flowers were blooming at the Mount Vernon Developmental Institute where my wife and I worked.

Barred Owls But No Salamanders

This morning's view of the vernal pool, with most of the ice melted and filled with water from snowmelt and rain. (Photo by Don Comis)

Oz, a barred owl held by Mrs. Vann, a.k.a. Manon Van Schoyck, executive director of Ohio NatureEducation--a private nonprofit organization dedicated to caring for animals, like Oz, that can no longer survive in the wild.  Oz's wild days ended when he got hopelessly tangled in a soccer net.  (Photo by Don Comis)

  
With all the conditions seeming right for a salamander/amphibian migration this morning--temperature in the high 40's Fahrenheit, rain, and temperatures in the 60's yesterday--I decided to brave the rain and check out the vernal pool in Gambier, Ohio.

I had no luck but did scare up a little creature, a mammal that looked like something other than a squirrel.  Since it was just at daybreak and the light was still low and it was running from the river toward the woods, I decided it might be a mink.


I did hear two owls calling to each other--I think they were barred owls saying, "We have a nest here, no other owls allowed in our territory!"

Unless they were chasing me out too, as the mockingbird coupled did again today on my way out.

From the Brown Family Environmental Center's north side, I then drove to the south side to check for the horned owls nesting in a pine plantation.  March lived up to its moon's name, "Mud Moon," as I kept slipping on the muddy and icy parts of the trail, finally falling once, without harm.

I didn't see any owls but enjoyed the magic, if a bit intimidating, pine forest lair.  I also got to see a rabbit running toward me and many birds.

When it was all over, the birds I could identify were, besides the barred owls:  red-winged blackbirds, three song sparrows, a mourning dove, bluebirds, and crows.

Speaking of birds, I'm encouraged by a birdwatcher's e-mail about his hearing the "peenting" call of a woodcock near a school in Dublin, Ohio, about 50 miles to the south of the Brown Center.  That call is the prelude to woodcock's mating "Sky Dance."

Fourteen Deer but No Salamanders Yet

On my way to the vernal pool at sunrise today, I saw this herd of seven deer trying to figure me out.  (Photo by Don Comis) on

 
With light snow overnight, conditions aren't exactly right for the vernal pool show.  But it's always fun going there.  I made the trip again early this morning.  Again I was greeted by wild turkeys gobbling.  And I had a staring contest with a herd of 7 deers that were grazing in a cornfield on leftovers from last year's harvest.

And a mockingbird showed me the way out of there.  This time he had a buddy, a female I'll bet.  What I like about mockingbirds is that rather than hide from you, they show themselves to let you know you're not welcome in their territory.  So you can't miss them.

It was very cold at first, but by the time I got to the vernal pool the sun had risen over the horizon and lit up the Kokosing River and the vernal pool,  just 5 to 20 feet from the river.

I was back at my car at 8:50 a.m. Daylight Savings Time and had plenty of time to shop for groceries.  By around 11 a.m., I was back on Apple Valley Drive when I saw another herd of 7 deer grazing in the spillway area of the Apple Valley Lake dam.  At the same moment, two bluebirds flew, reminding me of the wildlife closer to home.

Spring Salamander Migration Any Day Now!

The Kokosing River at sunrise today, a very short distance from the vernal pool the amphibians will soon migrate en masse to.  (Photo by Don Comis)

This morning's view of the vernal pool that reduces snowmelt flow to the Kokosing while providing a safe spring nursery for amphibian eggs.  (Photo by Don Comis)

The great annual migration of spotted and other salamanders is close, I can just smell it in the air, literally.

I took a second trip to the vernal pool at Kenyon College early this morning.  Rain was in the air and the temperature was 37 degrees Fahrenheit.  A night or early morning rain at 40 degrees are two of three main conditions to stir the salamanders and other amphibians out of their muddy hibernation places.

But there was still snow and ice in and around the vernal pool.  Until that melts, it's not going to happen, but when it melts, it won't be long.

Besides the benefits of getting up at 5:30 a.m., I got to see a skunk, hear a bunch of wild turkeys gobbling, see 8 to 13 deer, and get confronted by the local neighborhood watch mockingbird again--in that order.

Anticipating Spring

It would be hard to recognize this vernal pool, especially in winter,without knowing it's by this bench which has an apt quotation from my favorite Nature writer, Aldo Leopold:  "Rest cries the sawyer, and we pause for breath."  (Photo by Don Comis)

My first two black vultures of the season, resting by a deer carcass (not in photo).  (Photo by Don Comis)

I just had to write this early today since I am so exhilarated from an outing this morning at Kenyon College.  It's March 7 and I finally started toward my goal of visiting a vernal pool daily in March at the Brown Family Environmental Center.

Boy did it pay off--although it's too early yet to see spotted salamanders and other amphibians marching to the pool.  Even as I drove on Rt. 308 toward Gambier, I saw a huge flock of large birds I thought were wild turkeys grazing in corn stubble, near New Gambier Road.  This is probably the same field where someone saw a snowy owl on February 1.

I should have stopped but didn't.  When I got to the parking area by the Miller Observatory, I was confronted by a territorial mockingbird.

On the way to the pool, I have the privilege of passing a corridor of bluebird and tree swallow birdhouses.  I saw five bluebirds, with one couple checking out a home.  A mockingbird, possibly the one who warned me or just another bossy mockingbird, chased a bluebird.

I heard and saw many birds and tracks, including possible coyote tracks.

On my way home, I even saw my first song sparrow singing from the top of a crabapple tree on a lawn in my neighborhood.

Houses for Red-Headed Woodpeckers, Bluebirds, Robins, and Sparrows

Looking for ideas for mounting a red-headed woodpecker box Steven and  I made, I took a close look at one of my bluebird houses and saw pine needles leaking out of the bottom, a sure sign that the house sparrows who had moved in days ago were building a nest.

And a close look at my robin ledge, mounted on a 10-foot high PVC pipe just as I planned for the woodpecker box, showed droppings that revealed the ledge is being used for roosting this winter.  I don't know if was the cardinals that seem to live in the Colorado spruce trees surrounding the ledge or the tree sparrows or house sparrows that fly out of our hedges when I walk by.  I had never seen any activity there so I didn't know it was being used.

It pays to take a closer look!

I learned a lot--including how to mount the red-headed woodpecker box and quickly got it up without falling from the ladder.

My bluebird house in Maryland only attracted house sparrows.  The baby peeking out must be a baby house sparrow.  (Photo by Don Comis)

I haven't seen my red-headed woodpecker for a while in my front yard in Ohio.  The first bird house I built in Ohio is for this bird, which is being overtaken by a scarcity of cavities and the success of my favorite bird, the red-bellied woodpecker.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Snowy Owls: 169 in 59 Counties

Snowy owl at Amish farm in Wayne County.  (Photo by Debbie Hurlbert)

 Jim McCormac's latest tally of snowy owl sightings is: 169 owls in 59 counties.   He talks about how happy birders in Geauga County are with the finding of their first snowy owl, with neighboring counties totaling 47 snowy owls. 


My own "beef" is with Morrow County still having no snowy owl sightings--not quite comparable with Geauga County since Morrow's immediate neighboring counties total only 8 snowy owls.  But still Morrow too stands out as a holdout.

The owls may be on the move now, preparing to go back to northern Canada--probably Quebec.  I read a post today on the "Ohio-birds" mailing list  that said the owls at Wayne County's airport left as of six days ago.   They had been there 18 weeks.  It had been a dependable place to see snowy owls.  I think when they migrate north from points south of Knox County we may have an even better chance to see a snowy owl.

And there are many sightings that may not reach Jim, like one on Route 308 near New Gambier Road on February 1.

Jim also has great information on moths flying in the winter.  I thought I had seen things flying in my headlights on some recent nights.

Now I'm anxious to see moths again as well as snowy owls.

Red-Winged Blackbirds Have Their Songs Down, But Not All Have Their Colors

The red-winged blackbird has the right colors to get the girls.  I photographed him, along with a starling (middle) and a blackbird I can't identify from the photo, on March 21, 2013 in the same maple tree where I saw a similar male today, next to a weaker colored male red-winged blackbird.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Well, the red-winged blackbirds are not only serenading me from a maple tree in my yard, above a platform feeder, but one of them has developed the deep red and strong yellow on his wing patch that assures him of getting the girls' attention.  The girls should all be here by March 9.

One of the two birds had no red and only a thin line of weak yellow.  I could identify with the fellow, remembering my high school days and how I felt comparing myself with the Big Men on Campus who had all the masculine qualities to attract the girls, down to five-o'clock shadow on their faces!

I bought a platform feeder that I placed on the ground near my robin's favorite feeding grounds and he's been using it, until some culprit--probably a raccoon--tipped it upside down.  I had placed it on concrete blocks, so tonight I placed it directly on the ground and will re-fill it tomorrow, when the raccoons are sleeping.

My neighbor's son, Steven, and I just about finished a red-headed woodpecker house for my yard tonight.  Now I just have to figure how to get it 12 feet off the ground--a little easier than the 20 feet goal for the pileated woodpecker house we built earlier and placed in a tree in his yard, temporarily only about 10 feet off the ground.

I'm looking forward to building bluebird houses--at 4 to 6 feet high, these feeders can easily be mounted on fence anchor posts, with no harm to me or trees!

If I can get us registered on time, Steven and I will go to Lowe's free birdhouse building workshop birdhouse building this Saturday and come away with a free Lowe's apron, a certificate and badge for birdhouse building, maybe some more skills--and definitely another birdhouse.

Maybe we'll even build legs for my robin's ground feeder!

Grackle in Flock of 40 Blackbirds

My latest new bird arrival at my feeders was a grackle, in a flock of about 40 blackbirds, mainly starlings I think. I know more grackles are on the way.  On the American Birding Association's Ohio-Birds listserve I saw a report of four grackles just north of Cincinnati on March 2.  And John Switzer reported in his column in the Columbus Dispatch (Sunday, March 2) that he had seen at least one grackle for the first time this season at his feeder.

Usually by the time I read his column the bird species, if not individuals, at his feeders come to mine, in Howard, about 50 miles northeast of Columbus.  I hardly believed his report of an aggressive robin that chased away other birds at his feeders, but my daily robin visitor is like that, using up precious energy to chase away birds in a 10-foot-radius around, when there is plenty of food for all.

Last year I saw a grackle on January 1, but they didn't start coming regularly to my feeders until March 17.

I'm not sure I've ever had a robin come to a feeder, let alone eat from it.  He may be just picking out the fruits I have in the seed blend.  I haven't checked to see if robins will ever eat seeds, I just know they primarily eat worms and bugs.

Our Cooper's hawk is getting bolder.  On Sunday, when we were shoveling snow from the driveway we scared him and he flew over our heads and low over the driveway to the nearby woods.  I think that's the closest I've ever seen a hawk.

Vultures are Latest Arrivals in Central Ohio

Turkey vulture.  (Photo by Debbie Hurlbert)

This robin has been in my yard just about daily.  Usually he's on the ground under my side yard feeders so I can't tell if he's eating seeds or finding worms and bugs in the dirt.  But on Feb. 28 I saw him on our wooden deck definitely eating seeds dropped from numerous feeders.  He's pretty bossy too with other birds and so tame and unafraid of people that I'm beginning to think he really is a too-early spring arrival.  (Photo by Don Comis)

Today on a warm day before a predicted storm, when I parked at the Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, I saw a male red-winged blackbird singing for a mate from the very top of a tree near my parking space.

The sight of me didn't deter him, nor did the coming storm.   This bird does seem to go by the calendar and not the weather, so it shouldn't surprise me that if this blackbird arrived on February 23, he knows the ladies will arrive the first week of March, so why not start right away on March 1, at least he'll be well practiced.

I also saw my first vulture this season, a turkey vulture soaring near the Center.  The talk at the Center is of the arrival of red-winged blackbirds and vultures.  Later in the day, the talk at the seed store was of robins and red-winged blackbirds.

I've seen recent "OHIO-BIRDS" e-mail postings about sightings of sandhill cranes.  One e-mail even reported chipmunks stirring out of their partial hibernation.  They're not true hibernators, but I've yet to see one in winter.

Much as I love winter, I do look forward to joining chipmunks in sunbathing in our yard!

Right now the only mammals I'm seeing are deer, opossums, skunks, raccoons, and one mouse that ran out of my garage.

I saw a skunk in the neighborhood on my way home this evening and an opossum when I pulled in my driveway.  My wife saw a deer across the street.  I can't help but wondering if it was the warm day or a sense of the pending storm that got these animals moving around earlier than usual--or am I not outside enough at 7:30 p.m. to see them?


As I wind down about 1 a.m., I checked outside--no snow, just a raccoon on the front deck, with no concern for the flashlight I shine on him or her.  The predictions of snow starting at 10 p.m. seem to have changed to overnight snow, with snow totals down from about 5 to 10 or 12 inches to 5 to 7 inches by Sunday night.