Gone Birding January 31, 2011 Bargain Hunter
Columnist Bruce Glick attempts each week to summarize happenings in the birding world. Emphasis is on the local Wayne/Holmes area. This week Bruce reports on progress by Ohio birders to reach the century mark in January. Find out more in the "Gone Birding" column.
The January "Big Month" update
I'm writing this one week before the end of January and have just checked the Ohio Birds website to see how birders around the state are doing this year. Every year there seem to be more Ohio birders trying to find 100 different kinds of birds during the first month of the year. Some of them post updates regularly. Others, myself included, look at the reports to see what rare birds are being seen, especially close to home.
This year my January birding has been decidedly "casual". Volunteer work has picked up this month which left less free time for birding. Then there is the weather - it seems to snow every time I decide to head out birding. I did have some good days along the way which means that with some serious birding during the last week it might still be possible to reach 100.
Several Ohio birders already have joined the 100 club this month, but everyone seems to agree that it hasn't been as easy as it has been some years. There have not been a lot of really rare birds around, and some of them have been really hard to find, as has been the case with the Yellow-headed Blackbird in Wayne County. I have given up on that bird, at least for now.
Hopefully I'll be able to head up to Lake Erie one more time this week, where there should be a few more new birds to find. I still have some ducks to look for and maybe a rare gull or two. Around home there are still some common owls to find, as well as a possible Winter Wren, Fox Sparrow, or Red-breasted Nuthatch.
Perhaps the best bird of the month for me was the beautiful Brown Thrasher that has been a dawn visitor at a local feeder. I had to try two mornings before seeing it. The Thrasher showed up when it was just barely light enough to see the bird, and it didn't stay long.
Coming up on Saturday, February 26 is the Ohio Bluebird Society Annual Conference. This big event will be held in Wooster at the Shisler Center for Education, 1680 Madison Avenue. For more information, send an e-mail to: info@ohiobluebirdsociety.org - or call Marcella Hawkins at 330-465-6987.
Good birding!
Bruce Glick
birderbruce@yahoo.com
330-317-7798
