Update Since Texas

     Let's see, its been a little over 2 weeks since I've returned home from Texas and since my last post. It has certainly been a busy 2 weeks with school starting up again. Ohio has been uhhhh, cold. Quite cold. Oh and snowy! I am not a fan of either. The birds here though are good just like always. Ohio will always be my home and I think it is one of the best birding states in the country. I am lucky to be apart of Ohio birding. One of my goals for the year was to add to my Ohio life list (320 would be nice) and still post a decent/respectable number for the year in Ohio (maybe 275-280). I had some catching up to do after being gone for the first 10 days of the year! The Rogue Birder gang and I went on the annual OOS trip to The Wilds on the 17th in hopes of scoring a Golden Eagle, an Ohio lifer for me. That day had beautiful weather and 2 beautiful Golden Eagles soaring high in the sky! Score! I've also been slowly but surely building my Ohio year list and am now up to 96 species with a few good ones. I've also missed on a couple birds like White-Winged Crossbill and Hoary Redpoll and I've had to rescue a few fellow birders from a multi car mess one day! It has been quite an eventful couple of weeks and I've been adjusting and coming down from my Texas high. The posts will become more regular from now on.

     In regards to my ABA list as of Jan 28th, I've added 20 species since being home bringing me to 255 on the year! Highlights include a trip up to Eastlake Power Plant (after the car crash...) to see a cute little Harlequin Duck, a run to Preble County Ohio (aka the middle of nowhere) to see a distant Snowy Owl out in a corn field, and stumbling upon a massive flock of 30.000 gulls at Huron Pier with Greg and Danno and seeing absurd numbers of both Iceland and Glaucous Gulls in the flock. It's been a nice few weeks of Ohio birding. So far Golden Eagle has been the only Ohio lifer for me but Saturday, Chris and I are planning a trip to Toledo. I HAVE to give that dang Hoary another try!! Fingers crossed and stay tuned!