PASSENGER PIGEON. Program: No meeting in January. Field Trip: The Great Miami River, Hamilton. facebook CINCINNATI BIRD CLUB

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1 CINCINNATI BIRD CLUB PASSENGER PIGEON VOLUME 53, ISSUE 1 JANUARY 2017 Program: No meeting in January The Cincinnati Bird Club will not have a meeting in January. Watch for details about the February meeting in the next Passenger Pigeon. SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST Meeting Field Trip Hairy Woodpeckers Photo by Bob Ireton Field Trip: The Great Miami River, Hamilton. Christmas Bird Count Results Quiz Birds Yard Birds Raptor Open House Saturday, January 28, :00 a.m. Hamilton Riverside Natural Area Fairview Avenue parking lot (A note on directions follows trip description) Fairview Ave Hamilton, OH Trip Leader: Mike Busam mbusam@gmail.com In March 1913, the Great Miami River flooded its banks, laid waste to the cities of Hamilton, Middletown, and Dayton, among others, killed hundreds, many of them never found, and left a sense of fear and mistrust towards the river that lasted for over a century and probably made it easier to turn away from the pollution of the river during the following decades. Though an important part of the community and a major employer, when Hamilton's paper industry was at its peak, the river would often turn the color of the paper that was being produced that day. A large landfill covered the area from Knightsbridge to Joyce Park. A lot has changed, including attitudes towards the Great Miami River. There's a genuine sense of pride developing in Hamilton, long the butt of so many jokes. There is still a lot of work to do in the city, but there's also a lot of good things happening, and many good people as well. We'll meet at Hamilton Riverside Natural Area at 8:00 a.m. From there, depending on the weather and river conditions, we'll stop at a few sites in town that have become popular with local nature enthusiasts and photographers. For (Continued on page 2) INSIDE THIS ISSUE: January Quiz Bird 2 December Quiz Bird Answer East Fork CBC 4 Calendar 5 Adams County CBC 6 Yard Birds 7 Yard Birds 8 Raptor Open House 9 3 facebook The Cincinnati Bird Club is now on facebook at cincinnatibirdclub Like our page and follow it for information about upcoming meetings, field trips and other bird club information. Wren by Bob Ireton

2 PAGE 2 PASSENGER PIGEON (Continued from page 1) those interested, we'll end our day around noon at True West Coffee on Main Street in Hamilton, where you can get lunch if you wish, or coffee. Or both. Possibly, we'll have some guest tour consultants. Regularly seen birds of late in this area include Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, Black-crowned Nightheron, and a number of waterfowl. This far out, it's hard to predict what will happen given how quickly the river can change its mind and behavior. But at least we will have good coffee! January Quiz bird Rules Rules: Anybody is welcome and all are encouraged to participate. However, only paying members (it s only $12 per year) are eligible for prizes and unadulterated bragging rights. To participate send your answers to me (jackstenger@gmail.com) by January 25. All responses must be the official common English names used by the American Ornithologists Union check-list (Link). This means they must be correctly spelled, capitalized, and hyphenated or else they are counted as wrong. A note on directions: The parking lot for Riverside Natural Area is on Fairview Avenue, off of River Road. Be sure to check it out on google maps or some other site if you are unfamiliar with the area. There is a construction project planned for River Road that is beginning in early January. Road closures are possible. I will post information about the road situation the week of the field trip. As I planned this trip, it was not clear how the construction would impact access to Riverside Natural Area, so look to the Bird Mind your plovers and quails. Also include any comments you have about the quiz bird, such as how you arrived at your ID, or how you felt about the picture. Venting is welcome. Any bird that is on the state list for Ohio, Indiana, or Kentucky is fair game. Whoever has the highest number of correct answers by the end of the Bird Club season (May) wins. Any public discussion of quiz birds will result in a trap door opening up beneath the violator. Prize: To be determined. Club's facebook page or your for updates. A birding map of the area will be supplied to participants. Those wishing to make a day trip might consider checking out Fernald or Hueston Woods following our trip. You'll be reasonably close to either site. Click on link to display meeting place on google maps. ~Mike Busam Field Trips Answers: I will post the answer with a brief analysis in the next Bird Club newsletter. This will include a list of all those who guessed correctly. Don t worry, wrong guesses will not be published, so fire away: it s better to get a CBC quiz wrong than to have never participated. I think Alexander Wilson said that. ~Jack Stenger President Two foggy views of our January challenge. Good Luck!

3 VOLUME 53, ISSUE 1 December bird quiz answer PAGE 3 The dagger-like beak and wading behavior pointed all respondents to a white heron/egret. This leaves us with the following possibilities in order of likelihood: Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, and Cattle Egret. On white herons, bare parts (bill and legs) are the key to identification. The right leg of this bird shows a diagnostic pattern: yellowish legs with a black stripe running the length of the leg. This points to immature Snowy Egret, which is our only heron that regularly shows bi-colored legs. This can be confirmed by the dark bill and distinctive golden lores. A little blue would have more grayish lores and their legs would be homogenously greenish yellow. Six Snowy Egrets hung out in the Oxbow area late this summer. They gave me ID fits at a distance. Young Snowy Egrets can be very challenging to ID because from certain angles their legs look all yellow (they are mostly yellow) and they often have bi-colored bills in the same classic pattern as a Little Blue Heron. Also, it seems that bare part coloration is always more variable or prone to off-lighting than feather coloration. A good field mark for Snowy Egrets at a distance is their spasmodic feeding style. Of course, if the bird is strut-sprinting after food, that does not mean it s a Little Blue. I took this picture of a Snowy Egret along the Dearborn Trail in Dearborn County, Indiana on September 4 th, James Lunberg, Kathi Hutton and Bill Stanley were this month s correct respondents. ~Jack Stenger President Snowy Egret photo by Jack Stenger.

4 PAGE 4 PASSENGER PIGEON Results: East Fork State Park Christmas Bird Count Count Name: East Fork Lake S.P. Count Code: OHEF Count Date: 1/2/2017 # of Party Hours: Species reported on count date: 75 Compiler: Joe Bens joebens@live.com Start & End Times Start time: 08:00 AM End time: 05:30 PM Effort and Observers In Field Total Number: 14 Minimum Number of Parties (daylight): 4 Maximum Number of Parties (daylight): 5 Party Hours and Distance (excludes viewing at feeders and nocturnal birding) By Hours Distance Units Foot Miles Car Miles Count Summary Report Printout Date: 1/6/2017 Nocturnal Birding Miles Total Party Miles Weather Temperature Minimum: 51.0 Fahrenheit Maximum: 54.0 Fahrenheit Wind Direction South Wind Velocity Minimum: 5.00 Miles/hour Maximum: Miles/hour Snow Depth Minimum: 0.00 Inches Maximum: 0.00 Inches Still Water Open Moving Water Open AM and PM Conditions Cloud Cover AM: Foggy PM: Cloudy AM Rain Light AM Snow None PM Rain Light PM Snow None Checklist Species Number or cw Flags Max Number # Of Counts Editor Comm. Greater White-fronted Goose 7 7/117 2 Snow Goose 2 3/113 5 Ross's Goose cw 0/117 1 Canada Goose / Gadwall 9 20/ American Black Duck cw 703/90 31 Mallard /90 33 Northern Shoveler 5 6/113 4 Ring-necked Duck 4 22/ Lesser Scaup 2 47/102 8 Bufflehead cw 22/104 8 Common Goldeneye 1 3/96 7 Hooded Merganser 8 24/ Red-breasted Merganser 54 54/117 5 Wild Turkey / Common Loon cw 4/ Pied-billed Grebe 26 62/ Printout Date: 1/6/2017 Horned Grebe 21 37/ Great Blue Heron (Blue form) 18 36/ Black Vulture / Turkey Vulture / Northern Harrier 3 15/ Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 4/ Cooper's Hawk 2 12/ Bald Eagle 2 4/ Red-shouldered Hawk 29 39/ Red-tailed Hawk 9 41/88 33 Sandhill Crane cw 296/112 6 Bonaparte's Gull / Ring-billed Gull / Herring Gull 3 15/ Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) /93 31 Mourning Dove /88 33 Eastern Screech-Owl 1 5/ Great Horned Owl 1 6/96 22 Barred Owl cw 8/ Belted Kingfisher 4 18/88 31 Red-headed Woodpecker 26 43/ Red-bellied Woodpecker / Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 6 6/ Downy Woodpecker 55 92/ Hairy Woodpecker 14 20/93 32 Northern Flicker (Yellowshafted) 38 85/ Pileated Woodpecker 14 16/ American Kestrel 15 58/87 33 Eastern Phoebe 1 3/106 9 Blue Jay /93 33 American Crow / Horned Lark 1 770/ Carolina Chickadee /93 33 Tufted Titmouse / White-breasted Nuthatch 55 85/ Brown Creeper 7 12/96 32 House Wren cw 0/117 1 Pacific/Winter Wren 1 2/106 7 Printout Date: 1/6/2017 Carolina Wren / Golden-crowned Kinglet 11 45/97 32 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 2/84 3 Eastern Bluebird /93 33 Hermit Thrush 3 6/ American Robin / Brown Thrasher 1 2/114 9 Northern Mockingbird 18 54/ European Starling / Cedar Waxwing / Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) / American Tree Sparrow / Field Sparrow 50 72/ Fox Sparrow 1 6/ Dark-eyed Junco (Slatecolored) /86 30 White-crowned Sparrow 8 79/ (Continued on page 5)

5 VOLUME 53, ISSUE 1 PAGE 5 Birding Calendar January 14...Cincinnati Nature Center Bird Walk. CNC January 28...Field Trip. Brookville Lake Region January 28...Cincinnati Nature Center Bird Walk. CNC January 29...Raptor Inc. Open House JANUARY 2017 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat (Continued from page 4) White-throated Sparrow / Savannah Sparrow cw 9/88 12 Song Sparrow /88 33 Swamp Sparrow 7 54/ Eastern Towhee 27 98/ Northern Cardinal /93 33 Red-winged Blackbird 2 600/97 28 Eastern Meadowlark 5 89/ Common Grackle / House Finch /93 32 Purple Finch cw 48/ American Goldfinch /86 33 House Sparrow /84 33 Total Individuals Total Species Reported 75 cw = Reported count week US = Flagged as an unusual species HC = Flagged as an unusually high count LC = Flagged as an unusually low count Printout Date: 1/6/2017 House Wren and Ross's Goose are new to the count (but, are count week only). Amazingly, both were seen at the same time/place. Well documented on ebird - ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/ S Special Aspects Count Summary Report Printout Date: 1/6/2017 Count Week East Fork CBC House Wren Photo by Bill Stanley

6 PAGE 6 PASSENGER PIGEON RESULTS: Adams county Christmas bird count Dec. 17 YEAR 2016 AREA COVERED _#105 Adams Co._ Total Count_ species: 73 Party Miles On foot By car By boat 0 TOTAL Party Hours On foot 20 By car 42 By boat 0 TOTAL 62 Owling 3 Weather: Cloudy, unseasonably warm, windy with winds up to 25mph, deg.f Totals Totals 194 Blackbird, Red-winged 41 Bluebird, Eastern 217 Cardinal, Northern 87 Chickadee, Carolina 211 Cowbird, Brown-headed 2 Creeper, Brown 776 Crow, American 361 Dove, Mourning 263 Dove, Rock (pigeon) 55 Duck, Am. Black 15 Duck, Ring Necked 2 Duck, Wood 4 Eagle, Bald 34 Finch, House 90 Finch, Purple 13 Flicker, Northern 6 Gadwall 198 Goldfinch, American 1 Goose, Cackling 555 Goose, Canada 2 Goose, Ross's 284 Grackle, Common 1 Grebe, Pied-billed 7 Harrier, Northern 3 Hawk, Cooper's 3 Hawk, Red-shouldered 39 Hawk, Red-tailed 3 Hawk, Sharp-shinned 4 Heron, Great Blue 294 Jay, Blue 273 Junco, Dark-eyed 45 Kestrel, American

7 VOLUME 53, ISSUE 1 PAGE 7 Totals 5 Kingfisher, Belted 18 Kinglet, Golden-crwn 9 Lark, Horned 440 Mallard 4 Meadowlark, Eastern 25 Merganser, Hooded 5 Mockingbird, Northern 2 Nuthatch, Red-brsted 44 Nuthatch, Wht-brsted 3 Owl, Barred 1 Owl, Ea. Screech 1 Owl, Great Horned 2 Phoebe, Eastern 11 Pintail, Northern 35 Robin, American 1 Sapsucker, Yw-bellied 21 Sparrow, Field 1 Sparrow, Fox 68 Sparrow, House 75 Sparrow, Song 7 Sparrow, Swamp Yard Birds Totals 20 Sparrow, Tree 9 Sparrow, White-crned 80 Sparrow, White-thrted 1904 Starling, European 3 Teal, Green Winged 1 Thrasher, Brown 88 Titmouse, Tufted 4 Towhee, Rufous-sided 155 Vulture, Black 14 Vulture, Turkey 6 Warbler, Yellow-rump 7 Waxwing, Cedar 3 Wigeon, American 38 Woodpecker, Downy 23 Woodpecker, Hairy 9 Woodpecker, Pileated 41 Woodpecker, Red-bel. 9 Woodpecker, Red-hded 42 Wren, Carolina 73 Total species 7324 Total individuals Tufted Titmouse and Red-breasted Nuthatch Photo by Bob Ireton

8 PAGE 8 Yard Birds PASSENGER PIGEON Cooper s Hawks Photos by Dennis Meyers Taken at Armleder Park Great Horned Owls Photo by Dennis Meyers Taken at Armleder Park Yellow-rumped Warbler White-crowned Sparrow Photos by Dennis Meyers Taken at Armleder Park Canada Goose Ross s Goose Photos by Dennis Meyers Taken at Kellogg Soccer Fields Your photos can appear in the Passenger Pigeon too. If you have bird photos that you want to share send them to the Passenger Pigeon Editor at tyrannus58@gmail.com

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10 CINCINNATI BIRD CLUB c/o Newsletter Editor 3491 Bootjack Corner Rd Williamsburg, Ohio President Jack Stenger: Program Chair Brian Wulker: Treasurer Lois Shadix: Field Trips Mike Busam: Newsletter Editor Bill Stanley: Park VIP John Stewart: WE RE ON THE WEB! CINCINNATI BIRD CLUB FACEBOOK Bird Club Membership Name Address Phone Individual $12.00 Family $15.00 Student (under 18) FREE Make your check payable to Cincinnati Bird Club, and mail to our Treasurer: Lois Shadix 2928 Saddleback Dr, Cincinnati, OH DUES: IF YOU HAVEN T SENT IN YOUR DUES YET FOR THE SEPTEMBER MAY 2017 BIRDING SEASON, PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM AND MAIL IT IN ALONG WITH YOUR MEMBERSHIP FEES