Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society

Killdeer Plains Field Trip

Saturday March 10, 2012

Leader: Tim Colborn

It was a long day for some starting mid-morning when we entered Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area with 24 birders and ending after 7 p.m with just a few watching a Short-eared Owl and listening to Woodcock south of Big Island Wildlife Area. Fifty–eight species in all were identified under sunny skies with relatively strong winds throughout the day.

Highlights of our trip included at least six WHITE-FRONTED GEESE (Pond 27) among fifteen species of waterfowl throughout Killdeer Plains, several NORTHERN HARRIERS affording terrific looks, three RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS putting on a 20-minute show at Pond 33, the aforementioned AMERICAN WOODCOCK visible in the dying light as it flitted upward in the sky off Espyville Road (Big Island), first of year TREE SWALLOWS (and a single BARN SWALLOW identified by one of our group) at Pond 3, several RUSTY BLACKBIRDS with a blackbird flock on CH-71, hundreds of LAPLAND LONGSPURS in the fields adjacent to Washburn Road and a single SHORT-EARED OWL first seen from the observation deck along Route 95 (Big Island) at dusk.

24 Birders

Bird List -  58 species

Canada Goose

Mute Swan

Trumpeter Swan

Tundra Swan

Wood Duck

Gadwall

American Wigeon

American Black Duck

Mallard

Northern Shoveler

Northern Pintail

Green-winged Teal

Redhead

Ring-necked Duck

Lesser Scaup

Bufflehead

Greater White-fronted Goose

Wild Turkey

Pied-billed Grebe

Great Blue Heron

Turkey Vulture

Bald Eagle

Northern Harrier

Red-tailed Hawk

American Kestrel

American Coot

Killdeer

Common Snipe

American Woodcock (Big Island)

Bonaparte's Gull

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Short-eared Owl (Big Island)

Belted Kingfisher

Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Eastern Phoebe

Blue Jay

American Crow

Horned Lark

Tree Swallow

Barn Swallow

Tufted Titmouse

Eastern Bluebird

American Robin

European Starling

American Tree Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Lapland Longspur

Northern Cardinal

Red-winged Blackbird

Eastern Meadowlark

Rusty Blackbird

Common Grackle

American Goldfinch

House Sparrow