The BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, BLACK-AND-WHITE and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS continue at Little Lake Herrick. I hope they hold on until the Christmas count...

(cross-posted to GABO-L)

I walked a recently submerged and still extremely muddy Cook's Trail from Sandy Creek Nature Center to Sandy Creek Park and back this morning, with the highlights being 3 FOTS Fox Sparrows, 2 FOTS Purple Finches, and a single Rusty Blackbird (plus 8 flyover blackbirds that were good candidates for Rusties). The oxbow wetland at the midpoint of the trail held 14 Wood Ducks but was otherwise devoid of waterfowl. Lake Chapman (Sandy Creek Park) held only fisherman and a single helldiver (Pied-billed Grebe). Some notable counts and species from the ebird report include:

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 8
Blue-headed Vireo 5 3 seen, 2 scolds
Brown Creeper 5 3 seen, others heard

Winter Wren 23 *high count; highest densities on SCNC side and Oxbow loop, about half seen, 2 birds in full song

Golden-crowned Kinglet 25
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 23

Hermit Thrush 17 high count; one singing softly

Gray Catbird 1 late for here; about 0.5 miles towards SCP from Oxbow

Cedar Waxwing 35

Orange-crowned Warbler 1 near GRCA location, participating in mobbing event with chickadees, titmice, wrens, and kinglets

Common Yellowthroat 1 male in cane thicket with swamp sparrows between Oxbow and bridge on SCNC side

Fox Sparrow (Red) 3 FOTS here; Oxbow Loop

Rusty Blackbird 1 Seen and heard well; also "sang" once in addition to call notes

blackbird sp. 8 tail and wing proportions suggested RUBL, but only seen as brief, silhouetted flyovers through tree canopy

Purple Finch 2 FOTS at this location; male and female located by 'drip' notes coming from canopy. Male gave a brief, half-hearted song.

BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, ORANGE-CROWNED and BLACK-AND-WHITE-WARBLER all continue at Little Lake Herrick. Getting there about 730am and scanning the trees on the west side just as the sun hits them seems to be a reliable way to see them.

There was a female RING-NECKED DUCK on Lake Herrick this morning. She was associating closely with the Mallards, and since these birds are habituated to humans I got great looks at her as they swam almost underneath me on the footbridge. I also saw a Beaver, which is constructing a dam between the two wooden jetties.

Check those shopping center parking lots for gulls as well, the eastside Kroger often has a few around this time of year.

Nice work with the gulls Vanessa! I've only seen two individual gulls this year around Athens, but it seemed like lots of waterbirds moved into our area last night. The merganser had disappeared from Lake Herrick by lunchtime; I wonder what tonight will bring?

Richard, while waiting for the bus at Lake Herrick this morning, I spotted 17 gulls flying over. I didn't have my binoculars with me so I entered them into ebird as just gull sp., but I'm almost positive they were all Ring-billeds. That's the largest flock I've seen in the area yet!

(cross-posted to GABO-l)

This morning, Mitchell Jarrett and I hit Lake Herrick at dawn to find a splendid drake HOODED MERGANSER. Next up was Bear Creek Reservoir where we had a good variety of ducks - see eBird report below. Finally, we zipped through Lake Chapman. No sign of yesterday's wigeon but a raft of 44 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS and a single RING-BILLED GULL were noteworthy.

Richard Hall
Athens GA

Location: Bear Creek Reservoir
Observation date: 11/18/09
Number of species: 19

Mallard 5
Ring-necked Duck 1
Lesser Scaup 5
Bufflehead 1
Hooded Merganser 1
Red-breasted Merganser 3
Ruddy Duck 2
Pied-billed Grebe 4
Double-crested Cormorant 15
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 5
Turkey Vulture 2
American Coot 20
gull sp. 2
Mourning Dove 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Song Sparrow 2
Swamp Sparrow 4
Common Grackle 30

Hmm...to clarify, I should have said mostly grackles and a few crows, but that I wouldn't have been surprised to find a blackbird or two there too.

Just had one of those huge grackle/blackbird/crow flocks (mainly grackles, as far as I could tell) move through the yard. This year, they stuck to the trees, so it wasn't as grand a spectacle as last year, when they covered the ground. I could hear them a quarter mile off. One of my favorite events of the year.

This morning I looked for waterfowl on Lake Chapman and for sparrows and pipits at the dam. I thought I had struck out on ducks at first; there weren't even any Ruddy Ducks on the lake. I finally found three AMERICAN WIDGEON (2 drake, 1 hen) hanging out in the cove across from the beach area. I didn't find any pipits or uncommon sparrows at the dam, but a HOUSE WREN, a FIELD SPARROW, and a few SAVANNAH SPARROWS were nice finds for the morning.

Location: Sandy Creek Park (Clarke Co.)
Observation date: 11/17/09
Notes: Overcast to mostly cloudy. RBGU leaving the lake as I arrived. AMWI hanging out in cove across from beach with three DCCO.
Number of species: 40

American Wigeon - Anas americana 3
Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps 1
Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus 4
Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias 1
Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis 1
Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus 12
Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis 3
Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Sphyrapicus varius 1
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens 1
Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus 2
Pileated Woodpecker - Dryocopus pileatus 1
Eastern Phoebe - Sayornis phoebe 2
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata 5
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos 6
Fish Crow - Corvus ossifragus 2
crow sp. - Corvus sp. (crow sp.) 3
Carolina Chickadee - Poecile carolinensis 5
Tufted Titmouse - Baeolophus bicolor 4
Carolina Wren - Thryothorus ludovicianus 2
House Wren - Troglodytes aedon 1
Winter Wren - Troglodytes troglodytes 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Regulus calendula 9
Eastern Bluebird - Sialia sialis 12
Hermit Thrush - Catharus guttatus 1
American Robin - Turdus migratorius 43
Northern Mockingbird - Mimus polyglottos 1
European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris 24
Cedar Waxwing - Bombycilla cedrorum 34
Yellow-rumped Warbler - Dendroica coronata 3
Eastern Towhee - Pipilo erythrophthalmus 1
Chipping Sparrow - Spizella passerina 38
Field Sparrow - Spizella pusilla 1
Savannah Sparrow - Passerculus sandwichensis 3
Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia 18
White-throated Sparrow - Zonotrichia albicollis 4
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 2
Red-winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoeniceus 8
Brown-headed Cowbird - Molothrus ater 16
American Goldfinch - Carduelis tristis 4

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Yeah, that was my Plan B. I'll be bringing one to December's meeting.

Vanessa, how about donating some or all of the checklists to ORAS for raffle prizes?

Bob Cooper already had his hands on them. He grabbed about 3 or 4 for the class, but it was Joe Meyers at the school who had oodles of copies. I kind of got last dibs, but I think 6 is still a good haul.

No takers yet? GOS charges money for these, y'know. If you want 'em, email me (president AT oconeeriversaudubon DOT org).

Vanessa, you might offer them to Bob Cooper if he's teaching Field Ornithology next semester. He might have a few interested students.