Missing in American Memorial
Prepping for the Indy 500
Dancing With The Stars finalists
Home > Blogs > Birds and Butterflies > Archives > 2008 > December > 17 > Entry
CBC Adventure in the Upper Twin Creek Conservation Area
On the 16th we helped out with the Audubon Miami Valley’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) which is an effort to count as many birds within a 15 mile diameter circle by various groups in one day. The day started out early, 8 AM and cold 18 degrees Fahrenheit with a bit of wind. As we walked into our part of the count circle from the sledding hill at Germantown MetroPark, we began seeing lots of tree sparrows hiding in the tall prairie grasses along Manning Rd. Many of them fluttered up and down in the tall Indian Grass making identification and counting numbers tricky. We did what we could and moved on across Anthony Rd Bridge over the Twin Creek and then along the last gravel road left in Montgomery County past the mouth of Tom’s Run and into the Upper Twin Creek Conservation Area. Along the way we passed through a large flock of Robins eating hackberries and sitting along the creek We picked up a fox sparrow and various woodpeckers. We kept an eye out to the far farm field horizons to see if a flock of turkey could be seen but no luck. As we finished our 4 hr 2.5 mile walk we passed a last mixed flock of chickadees who brought along a brown creeper and several golden crowned kinglets and then we spotted a flock of cedar waxwings who cooperated nicely by have more join their group in twos and threes for easy counting. The hike was enjoyed by all and Daryl Michael will tally all the counts in this circle for reporting to this Audubon’s citizen science effort. We will list our sightings 12 canada goose, 4 red-tailed hawk, 50 morning dove, 2 belted kingfisher,; 3 red bellied, 5 downy, and 2 pileated woodpeckers; 7 blue jay, 4 crow, 29 carolina chickadee, 16 tufted titmouse, 7 white breasted nuthatch, 1 brown creeper, 1carolina wren, 5 golden crowned kinglet, 112 robin, 23 cedar waxwing, 15 cardinal, 1 eastern towhee; 11 tree, 1 fox, 8 song and 1 white crowned sparrows; 6 dark eyed junco, 1 purple finch, and 11 goldfinch. We saw 26 species in total even missing some common ones on that cold day.
You can still join in a CBC this year, it is fun. The local Dayton Audubon Society will hold their 84th DAS Christmas Bird Count on Sunday, December 28. http://www.dayton.net/audubon or Contact for more information Southwest Ohio Rare Bird Alert 937-640-BIRD (2473) Includes updated information on DAS activities. To report unusual sightings, call Betty Berry at 937-836-3022, or Ralph Dennler at 937-294-5086
Photos of Bobbi and Doug Loman and Jerry Lamb conducting our count and then warming up at the Germantown MetroPark Nature Center with a cup of hot coco.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Birds
Comments