Monthly Archives - Sightings Posted During December 2017

Hiked trail along lake from Wellman Meadows. A cold hike in the wind today.

1 adult Bald Eagle, 2 Cooper’s Hawk, 1 Red-shouldered Hawk

1 GBH, 1 Mallard Duck, 3 Ring-billed Gulls

several YR Warblers, 2 GC Kinglets, 5 Goldfinch

1 Brown Creeper, 14 Flickers, Downy and Pileated Woodpecker 

1 Crow, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 1 WB Nuthatch, 1 Bluejay,

4 Cardinals

4 guys riding fat tire mountain bikes on the hiking trails.

1 guy wearing camouflage in a boat with several Mallard decoys floating nearby.

Driving home a large contingent of Starlings flew low over my car at 75 mph and ruined my fresh clear coat from Mikes!

Today 1 Eastern Phoebe

2 House Finches

1 beautiful female Eastern Towhee

5 Yellow-rumped Warblers

3 White-throated Sparrows

Hermit Thrush – seen on consecutive afternoons in the brush and leaf litter near the 7.2/1.4 mile marker on the inner loop: 12/26 and 12/27

Flyover counted 17 Sandhill Cranes also;

3 Eastern Bluebirds

3 Hermit Thrushes along the rivers edge

4 Northern Flickers

4 Mallard Ducks

resident Belted Kingfisher

2 Pileated Woodpeckers

C Wrens

Bluejays

Cardinals

C Chickadees

D Woodpecker

There was a large movement of Snow Geese,with some Ross’s Geese,  in our area on Friday and Saturday.  During the Western Hamilton County Christmas Bird Count we had 6 flyover at Fernald in the late morning.  Then at about noon  Joe Bens and I had a flock of 325 flyover Miami Whitewater Wetlands. I was able to take  multiple photos of the flock in the air. We first heard the flock coming from the Northwest flying over the field next to the wetlands. The field now planted with oversized houses. We hoped they would land in the wetlands, which is full of water but no luck. In the next twenty minutes they flew over us 2 more times each time heading back to the Northwest.

After the count was over, I stopped at Lost Bridge. There were 200 Snow Geese , 34 Ross’s Geese and  4 Greater White-fronted reported there on Friday.  There was still about 80 Snow Geese at Lost Bridge around 4:00 on Saturday. It was hard to get an accurate count because the geese were in the back pond  and partially hidden by the levee that runs between the two Ponds. Also on Friday at Armleder, 1 Snow Goose and 1 Ross’s Goose were found.

During the Great Parks Winter Bird Count on December 9, 2017 , Snow Geese were reported at Miami Whitewater but the exact number never got put into the count results

A flock of about 70 snow geese in a somewhat disorganized V-shape flying northward direction relatively low to ground as though they had taken off from a nearby location at about 7:30 in the morning just west and north of I-71 and I-275.  Definitely not Canada since their appearance was smaller and they had a high pitch hock-hock sound as they flew. I was able to verify their sound from the Audubon app at the time of the sighting. Unfortunately no pictures :(.

While looking for CW birds for the EF CBC, I found 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull on the south beach at East Fork this morning. Still present when I left at 11am.

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This Am 115 Sandhill Cranes; and a Merlin working the thee line which covers the Pike Path.

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The Eider was still in front of the visitor center at 10:35 am.

The Sharonville Snowy Owl was still present at approx. 4:15 on Monday evening. I observed it on the top of one of the I-75/I-275 interchange light poles, from the Triangle Office Park parking lot that I accessed from Chesterdale Road (which is off of East Kemper Road).

from Oddfeathers; PLEASE do not get close to the owl!!

The Eider was still near the boat ramp at 9am.

1 Eastern Phoebe and 16 Hooded Mergansers

As of 3pm, the female King Eider is still floating around on the river in front of the museum!

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From Steve Barnett:

As of 11:10 am, 12/06/17, no sighting of the King Eider at Chilo 34 Lock & Dam.

Ms. “Queen” Eider in front of museum at 1PM Dec 5 still. Diving, looking gorgeous. Lynsey, thanks for sharing our lifer moment!

King Eider remains this morning per sources.  Off Ohio river bank at museum.

The female king eider remains at Chilo as of 3 pm, December 4. She often hugs the riverbank below the riverwalk, just east of the parking lot, so one has to wait until she swims into view.

Also, in Madisonville, there is a winter wren along the Little Duck Creek Trail immediately north of the Roe Street bridge.

The female King Eider is still present just off the Ohio river bank at 11:35AM this morning.  This is not the bird reported as scoter that the Clingman’s had on Nov. 25th.

I went to look for the Clingman’s WW Scoter at this park.  On arrival, I spotted a bird diving just off the boat ramp.  It didn’t look right to me for any scoter.  I looked at eiders on my phone and concluded that it was a female KING EIDER.  The bird swam up under the Ohio bank several times and out into river channel.  Photos on FB.

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