the passenger Local Christmas Count results The most famous owls in Cincinnati Papa, what s a slide projector? January 2011 Vol. 47, No.

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1 the passenger Pigeon Local Christmas Count results The most famous owls in Cincinnati Papa, what s a slide projector? January 2011 Vol. 47, No. 1 Blue Jay Allan Claybon

2 2 JANUARY Below we are reprinting an excerpt of A Birder s Almanac, written by Bill Whan. Bill, a longtime Ohio birder and member of the state bird records committee, is an authority on the birds of Ohio. The almanac traces the migratory patterns of birds through the state of Ohio, month by month. The full text can be viewed online at: Short days and cold nights dominate the environment in January. Birds are physiologically well suited to endure low temperatures, but cold weather can adversely affect their food supplies. With persistent deep snow, ground foragers must migrate, resort to feeders or odd niches, or die. Frozen water drives waterfowl first from ponds, then reservoirs, and in harsher winters from Lake Erie itself, while a few bodies of water where special circumstances prevail springs, rapids, dam overflows can host noteworthy local numbers of ducks. Hot-water outflows at Erie shore power plants invite hordes of diving waterfowl and gulls. Birds like rails and snipes and great blue herons may pass the winter at springfed wetlands, seeps, or sheltered ditches. The huge outflow of the spring at Castalia in Erie County never freezes, and is a magnet for ducks, most interestingly tender dabblers like gadwalls, wigeons, and shovelers seldom seen elsewhere in the state at this time. For a few other birds, like insectivorous brown creepers, even feeble winter sunlight is enough to stir prey hidden in tree bark. Eastern phoebes may persist in mild January weather to take advantage of winter stoneflies. Acorns and other nuts, cockleburs, dried grapes, seeds, sumac, grasses, ragweed, sunflowers, locust beans, and the like persist to feed many Snow Bunting Lana Hays others. Feeders tended by humans allow some birds to pass the winter further north than might otherwise be possible. Landscape plantings of hawthorns, crabapples, etc. are another important food source. Raptor numbers fluctuate from year to year with local abundances of rodents and smaller birds, just as the numbers of certain boreal birds snowy owls, winter finches vary with the supplies of food further north, dearths of which periodically bring them to Ohio. In recent years, small numbers of merlins have taken to wintering in urban settings in both the north and the south, and several golden eagles have wintered in Muskingum County, an eventuality unforeseen ten years ago. As many as 150 bird species may be found in Ohio during January. Sparrows, blackbirds, goldfinches, and the resident species can be found in good numbers. Winter finches (red-breasted nuthatches, pine siskins, crossbills, redpolls, evening grosbeaks) can be uncommon or absent, often in biennial cycles, likelier recently in winters whose Decembers fall in odd-numbered years. Raptorial visitors like northern shrikes, rough-legged hawks, and harriers share the landscape with year-round predators. Variable numbers of owls of the north, like short-eareds, long-eareds, and saw-whets, roost winter-long in suitable habitats, while local owls, especially great horneds, may begin nesting late in the month. In the northwestern marshes, fair-sized flocks of snow geese and tundra swans pass the winter. In the south, large roosts of both black and turkey vultures gather to do the same. A recent curiosity has been the number of rufous hummingbirds that persist, often at feeders, into January. In 2004, eight rufous hummingbirds were seen in January, one of them as late as the 23rd of the month, a new record date. - Bill Whan

3 Bird Club meeting Members Photo Night thursday, january 20th 7:00 p.m. sharon woods visitor center Our speaker for the January program will be... you. Or at least it could be you, if you have some photos of birds you would like to share with members and friends. The January program, as in past years, will again be the very popular members photo night. At this program, we encourage all members to show some of their favorite photos and maybe tell us a little something about them. We also ask that each person limit the number of photographs to about 10 to 20 pictures to make sure that everyone gets a chance. For those into digital photography, there is a digital projector available. We will be able to show digital photos from CD, DVD and possibly slides. Apparently slides are a thing of the past as no one has showed any at this program for a few years. If you plan to show slides let us know in advance. If you have pictures on another type of drive, please contact me in advance of the meeting to discuss how to show your photos. There will be a laptop available, but if you have one, you might want to consider bringing it. This is always a fun and interesting evening. I hope you can come out and share some of your photos with us. If you don t plan to present any of your own, you still won t want to miss this program, as I m sure you will enjoy the diverse photos of our talented membership. If you have any questions concerning this program feel free to contact me at fopsinc@gmail.com, (513) Bob Foppe 3 a note from RAPTOR, Inc. Do you have a garage apartment or similar space that is not being used? RAPTOR, Inc. will be hosting Sara Johnson, a 26-year-old graduate student from Arkansas State University this Spring. Sara will be coming to Cincinnati to study Red-shouldered Hawks and is searching for free or inexpensive housing. Sara will be working with Jeff Hays, Melinda Simon, and myself to learn more about suburban hawks. She plans to use video cameras to set up a live-feed website of a Red-shouldered Hawk nest, as a supplement to RAPTOR, Inc.'s educational programming. She will need a bedroom and bath, and ideally kitchen facilities, from Feb. 1 to June, If you can help Sara, please contact Melinda Simon, melindasimon@cinci. rr.com or myself at cheryldykstra@juno.com. Thank you. - Cheryl Dykstra around the valley... Audubon Society of Ohio Field trip Sunday, Jan. 16th, 8:00 a.m. Location: Mitchell Memorial Forest Leaders: Charlie Saunders (513) , Mike Busam (513) , mbusam@gmail.com Meet: Mitchell Moemorial Forest parking lot Cost: Free, but Park District auto sticker required ($2 daily, $10 annual) Oxbow, Inc. Evening winter walk Friday, Jan. 21st, 7:00 pm. Location: Shawnee Lookout Park Leader: John Klein, (513) Meet: Shawnee Lookout Golf Coarse Clubhouse parking lot Cost: Free, but Park District auto sticker required ($2 daily, $10 annual) Cincinnati Nature Center Bird walks Saturday, Jan. 8th - Darlena Graham Saturday, Jan. 22nd - David Brinkman Meet your guide in the Rowe Woods parking lot at 8 a.m. Beginners are welcome. Members free; nonmembers pay daily admission of $5 for adults and $1 for children ages 3-12.

4 4 Bird Club field Steve Bobonick Field Trip Co-ordinator (H) (W) (cell) Sunday, January 23rd 12:00 pm A Tour of the Little Miami River Valley Leader: Bob Foppe, fopsinc@aol.com Join Bob for what should be a great afternoon of local birding. Bob plans to start out viewing the abundant waterfowl, and maybe a Bald Eagle, at the Camp Dennison Gravel Pits. From there Bob may make several stops at various locations as we head south down the valley. A stop at Rowe Arboretum is scheduled to try for Pine Siskins and other conifer-loving species. Bob will end the day at Armleder Park to hopefully see the Northern Harriers, Short-eared Owls and other raptors and field species that have been wintering there. Expect to see lots of species if you attend this one. Remember, the meeting time for this field trip is 12 p.m. The trip will continue until dusk. Directions: We will meet in the parking lot of AIM, which is the name of the business located on the east side (same side as the pits) of Glendale-Milford Rd./ Route 126. The management of AIM has graciously agreed to allow us to park and view the pits from their parking lot. Thanks to Bob for setting this up. This is the business at the extreme north end of the Camp Dennison gravel pits, just south of Fletcher Rd. and the Little Miami River. From I-275: Take exit # 54 /Wards Corner Rd. Go south about 1.5 miles into Miamiville. At the stop sign turn left on to Rt. 126 (called Center Rd.). Go east a short distance to a stop sign and turn right. You are still on Rt.126. Go across the bridge and past Fletcher Rd. and turn left into the AIM lot. Saturday, February 5th 8:00 am Spring Grove Cemetery Leader: Steve Bobonick, (513) , bobonick@msn.com This outing will focus on finding our local winter visitors such as Fox Sparrows, Sapsuckers, Redbreasted Nuthatches, etc. Merlins have wintered in Spring Grove during the past several years, so that is also a possibility. We expect to be out for about three hours. Meeting Place: Park along the main road just beyond the tunnel at the main entrance on Spring Grove Ave. Fox Sparrow Lana Hays Short-eared Owl Lana Hays

5 trips 5 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Lana Hays

6 6 Audubon Christmas Below are the preliminary results for the five local Christmas Bird Counts organized by the Bird Club, as part of the National Audubon Society s 111th Christmas Bird Count. Ohio River CBC Date: December 18, 2010 Compiler: Paul Wharton Number of participants: 10 Total species: 84 Snow Goose 1 Canada Goose 3,790 Wood Duck 3 Gadwall 19 American Wigeon 1 American Black Duck 86 Mallard 673 Northern Shoveler 7 Northern Pintail 6 Canvasback 1 Redhead 2 Ring-necked Duck 8 Bufflehead 8 Common Goldeneye 1 Hooded Merganser 13 Ruddy Duck 31 Wild Turkey 174 Pied-billed Grebe 8 Great Blue Heron 37 Black Vulture 17 Turkey Vulture 7 Osprey 1 (2nd count record) Bald Eagle 13 (record #) Northern Harrier 5 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Cooper's Hawk 11 Red-shouldered Hawk 7 Red-tailed Hawk 51 Rough-legged Hawk 1 American Kestrel 12 (low #) American Coot 37 Killdeer 1 Ring-billed Gull 14 (low #) Rock Pigeon 1,013 (high #) Mourning Dove 375 Eastern Screech-Owl 2 Great Horned Owl 1 Short-eared Owl 1 (1st cnt. recrd.) Belted Kingfisher 11 Red-bellied Woodpecker 66 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 4 Downy Woodpecker 72 Hairy Woodpecker 5 Northern Flicker 25 Pileated Woodpecker 15 Blue Jay 56 American Crow 1,140 Horned Lark 289 Carolina Chickadee 377 Tufted Titmouse 170 White-breasted Nuthatch 50 Brown Creeper 6 Carolina Wren 61 Winter Wren 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 34 Eastern Bluebird 34 American Robin 2,234 Northern Mockingbird 23 European Starling 7,315 American Pipit 2 Cedar Waxwing 144 Yellow-rumped Warbler 27 Eastern Towhee 53 Am. Tree Sparrow 1,345 (high #) Field Sparrow 4 Savannah Sparrow 11 (high #) Fox Sparrow 49 Song Sparrow 407 Swamp Sparrow 99 White-throated Sparrow 299 White-crowned Sparrow 267 Lincoln's Sparrow 1 (1st cnt. record) Dark-eyed Junco 98 Lapland Longspur 1 Northern Cardinal 451 Red-winged Blackbird 70 Rusty Blackbird 90 Brewer's Blackbird 2 Common Grackle 38 Brown-headed Cowbird 13 Purple Finch 4 House Finch 118 American Goldfinch 274 House Sparrow 73 Count week species (2): Cackling Goose Lesser Scaup Hamilton/Fairfield CBC Date: December 18, 2010 Compiler: Mike Busam Number of participants: 17 Total species: 73 Canada Goose 2,258 Mute Swan 1 Wood Duck 3 Gadwall 9 American Wigeon 3 American Black Duck 9 Mallard 470 Lesser Scaup 7 Bufflehead 16 Hooded Merganser 24 Wild Turkey 6 Pied-billed Grebe 15 Great Blue Heron 16 Black Vulture 1 Turkey Vulture 1 Bald Eagle 2 Northern Harrier 11 Sharp-shinned Hawk 4 Cooper's Hawk 19 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 Red-tailed Hawk 44 American Kestrel 10 American Coot 10 Killdeer 5 Wilson's Snipe 3 Ring-billed Gull 17 Rock Pigeon 970 Mourning Dove 197 Eastern Screech-Owl 2 Great Horned Owl 6 Belted Kingfisher 13 Red-bellied Woodpecker 62 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 7 Downy Woodpecker 67 Hairy Woodpecker 4 Pileated Woodpecker 4 Eastern Phoebe 2 Blue Jay 57 American Crow 163 Horned Lark 265 Carolina Chickadee 186 Tufted Titmouse 58 White-breasted Nuthatch 36 Brown Creeper 9 Carolina Wren 35 Winter Wren 4 Golden-crowned Kinglet 12 Eastern Bluebird 7 Hermit Thrush 2 American Robin 2,296 Northern Mockingbird 14 European Starling 5,492 Gray Catbird 1 Cedar Waxwing 3 Eastern Towhee 3 American Tree Sparrow 88 Field Sparrow 6 Fox Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 108 Swamp Sparrow 3 White-throated Sparrow 262 White-crowned Sparrow 24 Dark-eyed Junco 101 Northern Flicker 19 Lapland Longpsur 2 Northern Cardinal 158 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Rusty Blackbird 5 Common Grackle 25 House Finch 82 Pine Siskin 1 American Goldfinch 74 House Sparrow 104 West. Hamilton Cty. CBC Date: December 19, 2010 Compiler: Ned Keller Number of participants: 32 Total species: 88 Canada Goose 2,701 Mute Swan 2 Tundra Swan 1 Wood Duck 2 Gadwall 11 American Wigeon 1 American Black Duck 64 Mallard 517 Green-winged Teal 14 Ring-necked Duck 3 Hooded Merganser 6 Common Merganser 1 Ruddy Duck 5 Wild Turkey 64 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Great Blue Heron 16 Black Vulture 3 Turkey Vulture 7 Bald Eagle 6 Northern Harrier 8 Sharp-shinned Hawk 5 Cooper's Hawk 10 Red-shouldered Hawk 14 Red-tailed Hawk 56 Rough-legged Hawk 5 American Kestrel 8 Merlin 2 Peregrine Falcon 1 American Coot 66 Ring-billed Gull 6 Rock Pigeon 697 Mourning Dove 398 Eastern Screech-Owl 2 Great Horned Owl 3 Barred Owl 2 Short-eared Owl 1 Belted Kingfisher 17 Red-headed Woodpecker 3 Red-bellied Woodpecker 217 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 30 Downy Woodpecker 177 Hairy Woodpecker 18 Northern Flicker 50 Pileated Woodpecker 25 Eastern Phoebe 1 Blue Jay 311 American Crow 3,469 Horned Lark 434

7 Bird Count Results 7 Carolina Chickadee 1,123 Tufted Titmouse 371 Red-breasted Nuthatch 14 White-breasted Nuthatch 115 Brown Creeper 43 Carolina Wren 117 Winter Wren 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 72 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Eastern Bluebird 126 Hermit Thrush 5 American Robin 13,981 Northern Mockingbird 52 Brown Thrasher 1 European Starling 18,948 American Pipit 1 Cedar Waxwing 204 Yellow-rumped Warbler 84 Eastern Towhee 63 American Tree Sparrow 507 Field Sparrow 24 Vesper Sparrow 1 Savannah Sparrow 2 Fox Sparrow 12 Song Sparrow 696 Swamp Sparrow 88 White-throated Sparrow 567 White-crowned Sparrow 14 Dark-eyed Junco 563 Northern Cardinal 1151 Red-winged Blackbird 65 Eastern Meadowlark 2 Rusty Blackbird 35 Common Grackle 484 Brown-headed Cowbird 149 Purple Finch 5 House Finch 154 Pine Siskin 3 American Goldfinch 354 House Sparrow 626 Cincinnati CBC Date: December 26, 2010 Compiler: Jay Stenger Number of participants: 103 Total species: 87 (*indicates count record): Canada Goose 3,688 Gadwall 38 American Wigeon 9 American Black Duck 57 Mallard 1505 * Canvasback 23 Redhead 21 Ring-necked Duck 44 Greater Scaup 6 Bufflehead 34 Hooded Merganser 149 Ruddy Duck 39 Wild Turkey 26 Northern Bobwhite 3 Pied-billed Grebe 3 Double-crested Cormorant 1 Great Blue Heron 28 Bald Eagle 3 Black Vulture 76 Turkey Vulture 48 Northern Harrier 6 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 Cooper s Hawk 16 (unidentified accipiter 5) Red-shouldered Hawk 14 Red-tailed Hawk 65 American Kestrel 8 Merlin 1 Peregrine Falcon 1 American Coot 191 Killdeer 1 Ring-billed Gull 109 Rock Pigeon 531 Mourning Dove 662 Eastern Screech-Owl 4 Great Horned Owl 11 Barred Owl 2 Short-eared Owl 3 Belted Kingfisher 33 Red-bellied Woodpecker 394 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 38 Downy Woodpecker 335 Hairy Woodpecker 47 Northern Flicker 92 Pileated Woodpecker 34 Eastern Phoebe 2 Blue Jay 457 American Crow 1,202 Horned Lark 6 Carolina Chickadee 1,287 Tufted Titmouse 569 Red-breasted Nuthatch 4 White-breasted Nuthatch 254 Brown Creeper 46 Carolina Wren 183 Winter Wren 3 Golden-crowned Kinglet 96 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Eastern Bluebird 87 Hermit Thrush 11 American Robin 14,144 Northern Mockingbird 72 European Starling 49,157 Cedar Waxwing 667 Yellow-rumped Warbler 147 Eastern Towhee 105 American Tree Sparrow 637 Field Sparrow 35 Savannah Sparrow 7 Fox Sparrow 2 Song Sparrow 630 Swamp Sparrow 52 White-throated Sparrow 705 White-crowned Sparrow 55 Dark-eyed Junco 548 Lapland Longspur 2 Northern Cardinal 1,234 Red-winged Blackbird 115 Eastern Meadowlark 2 Rusty Blackbird 111 Brewer s Blackbird 1 Common Grackle 682 Brown-headed Cowbird 41 Purple Finch 18 House Finch 223 Pine Siskin 31 American Goldfinch 505 House Sparrow 580 Count Week Species (5): Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Brown Thrasher American Pipit East Fork CBC Date: January 2, 2010 Compiler: Joe Bens Number of participants: 17 Total species: 70 Canada Goose 2,197 Gadwall 2 American Black Duck 8 Mallard 729 Redhead 3 Ring-necked Duck 22 Common Goldeneye 1 Hooded Merganser 6 Horned Grebe 9 Pied-billed Grebe 16 Double-crested Cormorant 1 Great Blue Heron 9 Turkey Vulture 170 Black Vulture 93 Northern Harrier 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 Copper's Hawk 3 Red-shouldered Hawk 26 Red-tailed Hawk 28 American Kestrel 16 Merlin 1 Wild Turkey 164 American Coot 1 Bonaparte's Gull 31 Ring-billed Gull 650 Rock Pigeon 175 Mourning Dove 169 Eastern Screech-Owl 1 Barred Owl 2 Belted Kingfisher 6 Red-headed Woodpecker 36 Red-bellied Woodpecker 102 Downy Woodpecker 56 Hairy Woodpecker 16 Northern Flicker 42 Pileated Woodpecker 11 Blue Jay 235 American Crow 231 Horned Lark 9 Carolina Chickadee 300 Tufted Titmouse 171 White-breasted Nuthatch 85 Brown Creeper 5 Carolina Wren 30 Golden-crowned Kinglet 28 Eastern Bluebird 57 American Robin 491 Northern Mockingbird 25 European Starling 2,005 Cedar Waxwing 333 Yellow-rumped Warbler 65 Eastern Towhee 24 American Tree Sparrow 89 Field Sparrow 22 Song Sparrow 181 Swamp Sparrow 8 Savannah Sparrow 1 White-throated Sparrow 165 White-crowned Sparrow 10 Dark-eyed Junco 196 Northern Cardinal 400 Redwing Blackbird 58 Common Grackle 297 Rusty Blackbird 1 Brown-headed Cowbird 22 Purple Finch 3 House Finch 77 American Goldfinch 167 Pine Sisken 7 House Sparrow 171

8 the passenger Pigeon Newsletter of the Cincinnati Bird Club Cincinnati Bird Club c/o Newsletter Editor 2497 Spindlehill Drive, #6 Cincinnati, OH President: Ann Oliver Program Chair: Bob Foppe Field Trips: Steve Bobonick Newsletter Editor: Mark Gilsdorf Treasurer: Lois Shadix Park VIP: Jay Lehman Dues: If you haven t sent in your dues yet for the September May 2011 birding season, please fill out the form below and mail it in along with your membership fees. Visit us on the Web at: Bird Club Membership Name Address Phone Yes I would like to receive my newsletter via . 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 (lcshadix@fuse.net), 2928 Saddleback Dr, Cincinnati, OH 45244