Eastern Kentucky Bird Club

Highlights of Previous Meetings

March 18, 2001

The Eastern Kentucky Bird Club met at Yatesville Lake Sate Park/WMA for our March meeting.

We got a great look at the Bald Eagles on the Cherokee Unit of the WMA. We were able to view both Eagles at the nest site. One adult stayed on the nest the entire time we were there. The other adult gave us a good aerial show, flying from the nest tree and soaring around a bit. It was still sitting in the branches of a tree (and glaring at us) when we got back into the truck and drove away. We also saw Red-tailed Hawks and an Osprey in the same area. And to cap off a "good raptor day", we heard the call of a Barred Owl.

New additions to the Yatesville Lake Checklist today were: Ring-necked Duck and Greater Yellowlegs.

Gerald H. Robe
Mt. Sterling, KY

February 18, 2001

The Eastern Kentucky Bird Club had its February meeting today at Jenny Wiley State Park in Floyd County. The woods were thick with small birds this afternoon; we saw lots of Carolina Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. We were also able to see all of the woodpeckers (except Red-cockaded, of course): Pileated, Red-bellied, Red-headed, Downy, Hairy, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and Northern Flicker. There were also quite a few Golden-crowned Kinglets and Dark-eyed Juncos. As for birds of prey, we saw one light phase Red-tailed Hawk and several Turkey Vultures. One of the most exciting moments of the day was when we heard the call of a Barred Owl from a distance. Waterfowl were scarce; only 1 Mallard and 1 Pied-billed Grebe were observed. One Belted Kingfisher was spotted by Steve Sweeney and Neil Smith.

The March meeting of the EKBC will be held at Yatesville Lake State Park/WMA on 3/18. Target bird: nesting Bald Eagle.

In April, EKBC members are encouraged to attend the KOS meeting at Carter Caves.

In May, we will be spending the weekend at the Breaks Interstate Park (hopefully, we'll be able to find the Swainson's Warblers again).

As always, anyone interested in participating in any of these EKBC events is welcome to attend. Contact me at ghrobe@tiusa.net for more information.

Gerald H. Robe
Mt. Sterling, KY

January 21, 2001

The January meeting of the Eastern Kentucky Bird Club was held today at Cave Run Lake and the Minor Clark Fish Hatchery. Four members were present. Waterfowl observed on Cave Run Lake by the dam included: "blue" Snow Goose, scores of Canada Geese, Mallard, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Bufflehead, American Coot, & Pied-billed Grebe. There were also about 100 Ring-billed Gulls on the lake. Highlights at the Hatchery included: 2 Wood Ducks, 4 Great Blue Herons, American Kestrel, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Pileated, Red-bellied, and Downy woodpeckers, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Northern Flickers, & Song, Swamp, White-throated and Field sparrows. Non-avian critters of interest: at least 6 white-tailed Deer and a coyote.

Gerald H. Robe
Mt. Sterling, KY

19 November 2000

The following species were observed today at Yatesville Lake by the Eastern Kentucky Bird Club: Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Mallard, Red-shouldered Hawk, Killdeer, Belted Kingfisher, Downy and Pileated Woodpeckers, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Golden-crowned Kinglet (these seemed to be everywhere! We saw at least a dozen.), Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush , American Robin, and Field, Song, and White-throated sparrows

Next month's EKBC meeting will be our winter bird counts at Yatesville Lake and Grayson Lake State Parks on December 17. Anyone who wants to participate in these counts should contact me at ghrobe@tiusa.net.

Gerald H. Robe
Mt. Sterling, KY

19 August 2000

The Eastern Kentucky Bird Club met today in Boyd County and birded the "Highwall" area and the North East Kentucky Fish & Game Club preserve. Let me first apologize to anyone who tried to follow the bad directions I posted last week; I hope you're not still driving around lost somewhere in Ohio. At Highwall we observed: Great Blue and Green Herons, Killdeer, Belted Kingfisher, Turkey and Black Vultures, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Mourning Dove (about a thousand!), Downy Woodpecker, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Kingbird, American Crow, European Starling, Eastern Meadowlark, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee (no Black-caps yet!), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Northern Cardinal, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, American Goldfinch, & Song, Field, and House Sparrows. Heard but not seen were: Eastern Towhee. Birds that we really needed a better look at to ID, but tried anyway: Blue-winged Warbler & Yellow Warbler. At the "NEK", we added: American Kestrel (2 male & 1 female, possibly a family group), Red-tailed Hawk, Chimney Swift, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Blue Jay, & Yellow-breasted Chat.

15 July 2000

AKA "the EKBC St. Swithin's Day Bird Count"! We had a beautiful day. We broke up into 2 teams: the West Team (Scott Marsh, Rhonda Bryant, Bill Moore, and I) covered the West Sides of Yatesville Lake State Park and the wetlands management areas; the East Team (Lin Towler, Charlie Howes, and Steve Sweeney) covered the East side of the park. All observations were made between ~7:30 AM and 4:00 PM. 67 species were observed, and an additional 2 species were ID'd by sound. More than 675 individual birds were counted (numbers approximate due to the large number of birds that were heard but not seen). The highlight birds were a Blue-headed Vireo spotted by the East Team and a "blaze-orange" mutant male Scarlet Tanager seen by the West Team. Otherwise, most of the birds observed were fairly common types. Here are the totals:

1.Great Blue Heron (5)
2.Green Heron (6)
3.Canada Goose (80)
4.Wood Duck (14--including 9 babies)
5.Mallard (9--including 8 babies)
6.Turkey Vulture (16)
7.Broad-winged Hawk (1--a noise heard by several members of the West Team may have been a second BWHA)
8.Red-tailed Hawk (1)
9.Wild Turkey (6)
10.Killdeer (3)
11.Rock Dove (2)
12.Mourning Dove (8)
13.Chimney Swift (2)
14.Belted Kingfisher (5)
15.Red-bellied Woodpecker (1)
16.Northern Flicker (7--including a group of 5 that appeared to be parents with 3 offspring)
17.Pileated Woodpecker (2)
18.Eastern Wood-Pewee (2--1 seen, 1 heard)
19.Unidentified "Empid" Flycatchers (3--statistically speaking, they were probably Acadians)
20.Eastern Phoebe (6--5 seen, 1 heard)
21.Eastern Kingbird (13)
22.Purple Martin (13)
23.Bank Swallow (50)
24.Cliff Swallow (11)
25.Barn Swallow (4)
26.Blue Jay (8--7 seen, 1 heard)
27.American Crow (54)
28.Carolina Chickadee (13)
29.Tufted Titmouse (8)
30.White-breasted Nuthatch (6--4 seen, 2 heard)
31.Carolina Wren (19--15 seen, 4 heard)
32.Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (30, with many more heard but not seen)
33.Eastern Bluebird (17)
34.Wood Thrush (2--1 seen, 1 heard)
35.American Robin (6)
36.Gray Catbird (1)
37.Northern Mockingbird (10)
38.Brown Thrasher (3)
39.Cedar Waxwing (~50-60)
40.European Starling (43)
41.White-eyed Vireo (8)
42.Blue-headed Vireo (1)
43.Yellow-throated Vireo (3)
44.Red-eyed Vireo (7)
45.Blue-winged Warbler (3)
46.Northern Parula (2)
47.Yellow-throated Warbler (2)
48.Prairie Warbler (5)
49.Black-and-white Warbler (5)
50.Worm-eating Warbler (2)
51.Ovenbird (3, with several others heard)
52.Kentucky Warbler (1)
53.Common Yellowthroat (5 seen, many others heard but not seen)
54.Hooded Warbler (1)
55.Yellow-breasted Chat (2--heard but not seen)
56.Summer Tanager (6, others heard)
57.Scarlet Tanager (1--a blaze-orange mutant!)
58.Northern Cardinal (18--many others heard but not seen)
59.Indigo Bunting (21)
60.Eastern Towhee--official mascot of the Eastern Kentucky Bird Club (7)
61.Chipping Sparrow (4)
62.Field Sparrow (1--heard only)
63.Song Sparrow (22, several others heard but not seen)
64.Red-winged Blackbird (at least 18)
65.Eastern Meadowlark (1--heard but not seen)
66.Common Grackle (3)
67.Orchard Oriole (4)
68.American Goldfinch (25)
69.House Sparrow (3)

Gerald Robe
ghrobe@kih.net
Mt. Sterling, KY

Despite the rain, the Eastern Kentucky Bird Club had a pretty successful trip to Red River Gorge today. We didn't get to see a Swainson's Warbler or the Red-breasted Nuthatches, but we saw some neat warblers: Worm-eating, Black-and-white, Yellow-throated, Cerulean, Hooded, Black-throated Green and Pine Warblers; Ovenbird. Interestingly, the Worm-eating Warbler seemed to be the most frequently observed bird of the day. We also saw Carolina Wrens, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Red-eyed Vireos, Turkey Vultures, Chimney Swifts, and American Crows.

Scott Marsh and Rhonda Bryant, our Advanced Scouts (who started birding the Gorge at 9 AM), also saw the following: Louisiana Waterthrush; N. Parula; Yellow-breasted Chat; White-eyed Vireo; Downey, Pileated, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers; N. Flicker; Northern Rough-winged and Barn Swallows; Ruby-throated Hummingbird; Common Yellowthroat; Yellow-billed Cuckoo; Indigo Bunting, Wood Thrush; American Robin; Brown-headed Cowbird, European Starling, Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow-throated Vireo, E. Phoebe, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Cardinal, and American Goldfinch.

The EKBC's next meeting (July 15) will be our first annual "Christmas-in-July Bird Count" at Yatesville and Grayson Lake State Parks. One of the EKBC's ongoing projects is the development of a birding checklist for Yatesville Lake SP; the results from this count will be used toward that end. This will be an all-day, dawn-to-dusk event, but participants will not be required to stay for the duration. If you would like to take place in this event, either for the whole day or for an hour or two, please e-mail me (ghrobe@kih.net) and let me know that you are planning to participate, and for how long.

20 May 2000

The Eastern Kentucky Bird Club held its May meeting at Breaks Interstate Park on the KY/VA border. Numbers-wise, we didn't get that many birds, but there were some exciting highlights. Most notable of these:

1.Swainson's Warbler(s?)--the "target bird" of the meeting--along the Laurel Branch Trail.
2.>40 Goldfinches (eating insects or grit?) on a 50-foot square patch of the bank beside the Russell Fork River.
3.Two Blue-headed Vireos having a territorial dispute beside the patio at the Rhododendron Lodge just as the EKBC meeting was starting.

Species observed: Wood Duck, Mallard, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawk, Barred Owl, Killdeer, Mourning and Rock Doves, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied, Pileated, Downy, and Hairy woodpeckers, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Kingbird, Great-crested and Acadian flycatchers, N. Rough-winged and Barn swallows, Blue Jay, Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, E. Bluebird, Wood Thrush, Am. Robin, Cedar Waxwing, Eur. Starling, Blue-headed and Red-eyed vireos, Blue-winged, Yellow-throated, Black and White, Worm-eating, Swainson's, Black-throated Green and Hooded warblers, N. Parula, Ovenbird, Louisiana Waterthrush, Scarlet Tanager, E. Towhee, N. Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, A. Goldfinch, Chipping, Song and House sparrows, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, E. Meadowlark, Brown-headed Cowbird, Orchard Oriole.

Birds identified by sound only: Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Summer Tanager, Yellow-throated Vireo, & Common Yellowthroat.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something! Next month's meeting will be at 2:00 p.m. on June 17 at the Gladie Creek Historical Site at Red River Gorge. On July 15, the EKBC will be having our first annual "Christmas-in-July" Bird Count at Yatesville and Grayson Lakes. We'll meet at 6:30 a.m. at the Shoney's in Grayson. As always, anyone is welcome to attend any EKBC function. For more information on any of these meetings, please contact me by e-mail.

Gerald Robe
ghrobe@kih.net
Mt. Sterling, KY

18 March 2000
Yatesville Lake Wildlife Management Area

Mark Reeder, Park Manager, and his assistant, Bill Rickman, guided our group along a great hiking trail and around some of the parks diverse birding areas. Time did not permit us to visit all the park has to offer, but I am sure future trips here will be planned!

Discussion: EKBC helping to plan bird feeding areas, trails, programs, and birding by boat on the lake.

Present were: Julie Ritchie, Scott Marsh, Rhonda Bryant, Charlie and Jeanette Howes, Emily Miller, Neil Smith, Steve Sweeney, and Lin Towler.

Birds observed included: Osprey, Ruffed Grouse, American Robins, Eastern Bluebirds, Wild Turkeys (12), SNOW GOOSE (Blue Phase), Killdeer, Mallards, Savannah Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Wood Thrush, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red- breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Juncos, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Mourning Doves, Eastern Phoebe, Northern Flicker, European Starlings, Common Grackles, American Kestrels, Turkey Vulture, Common Crow, Pileated Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Barred Owl (heard), & Pine Warbler (heard, with very brief glimpses).

Next month's meeting canceled to allow for members to attend the Kentucky Ornithological Society (KOS) Meeting.

May's Meeting will be at "The Breaks"; more info to follow.

Anyone interested in joining us on our next trip is more than welcome to attend! Membership in the EKBC is "FREE". Contact Gerald Robe at ghrobe@kih.net for more information on the next planned meeting, or more information on the Eastern Kentucky Bird Club.

19 February 2000
Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park

Only five members were able to attend our meeting at Blue Licks; the cold weather and rising flood waters (as well as some unreasonable excuses, like: "I have to work so my family can eat" ;-) kept most away. Oh, well, they didn't miss a lot. The Licking River has thrown its banks, and the park's main River Trail is flooded. We had to settle for walking around the campground and the nature preserves. Nothing really remarkable, but we did see lots of Mourning Doves, Crows, American Robins, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-breasted Nuthatches, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and Northern Flickers. We also saw a lone Goldfinch near the feeders at the nature center. [Note: there was a huge flock of Wild Turkeys by the Licking River across the road from the park entrance that I saw when I left; I don't know if anyone else in the group saw them.] The "highlight" bird was spotted by Lin Towler: a Black Vulture soaring over the parking lot as we were preparing to leave!

Gerald Robe
ghrobe@kih.net
Mt. Sterling, KY

15 January 2000

The January meeting of the Eastern Kentucky Bird Club was held on the 15th at Cave Run Lake. Following the meeting, the 12 club members in attendance birded the Minor E. Clark Fish Hatchery.

Our February meeting will be held at Blue Licks Battlefield State Park (http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/parks/bluelick.htm) on 2-19-00 (alternate bad-weather date: 2-26); exact meeting place and time TBA at a later date.

36 (or 37) species of bird were seen at the Hatchery and/or at the Visitor Center feeders: Great Blue Heron, Canada Goose, Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser (& I think someone said they saw an American Black Duck, but I didn't have it recorded), Red-tailed Hawk, Common Snipe (a lifer for several members!), Bonaparte's and Ring-billed Gulls, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied, Downy, and Hairy Woodpeckers, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Mockingbird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Cardinal, Eastern Towhee, Field, Song, Swamp, White-throated, and White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Junco, & American Goldfinch. Non-avian wildlife observed: White-tailed Deer, Beaver, & Gray Squirrels.

Heroes of the Day: Scott Marsh and Scott Freidhoff, for rescuing a Canada Goose that was caught in one of the hatchery's mink traps!

Gerald Robe
ghrobe@kih.net
Mt. Sterling, KY

19 December 1999 - Christmas Bird Count

Our count circle covered the area at the junction of Elliot, Lawrence, and Carter Counties, and included most of Grayson Lake SP/WMA and part of Yatesville WMA. A total of 52 species were observed, with a total of 980 birds. The highlight of the count was probably the Wild Turkeys: we counted 85 individuals, including one albino bird (seen at the Grayson Lake campground) that was almost completely white except for some color on its tail feathers. The following is the list of all birds observed on Sunday: D.C. Cormorants (6), Great Blue Herons (3), Canada Geese (46), Wood Ducks (5), American Black Ducks (5), Northern Harrier (1), Red-shouldered Hawks (7), Red-tailed Hawks (9), American Kestrels (9), Wild Turkeys (85), Northern Bobwhite (3), Killdeer (6), Rock Doves (34), Mourning Doves (53), Eastern Screech-Owls (3), Belted Kingfishers (3), Red-bellied Woodpeckers (5), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1), Downy Woodpeckers (19), Hairy Woodpeckers (2), Northern Flickers (6), Pileated Woodpeckers (14), Eastern Phoebes (3), Blue Jays (7), American Crows (69), Carolina Chickadees (22), Tufted Titmice (17), Red-breasted Nuthatch (1), White-breasted Nuthatches (14), Carolina Wrens (19), Golden-crowned Kinglets (8), Ruby-crowned Kinglets (5), Eastern Bluebirds (45), Hermit Thrush (1), American Robin (1), Northern Mockingbirds (5), Starlings (173), Yellow-rumped Warblers (6), Northern Cardinals (52), Eastern Towhee (2), Tree Sparrows (2), Chipping Sparrow (1), Field Sparrows (21), Fox Sparrow (1), Song Sparrows (46), White-throated Sparrows (24), White-crowned Sparrow (1), Dark-eyed Juncos (61), Pine Siskins (15), American Goldfinches (30), & House Sparrow (1).

20 November 1999 Meeting - Carter Caves State Resort Park

16 October 1999 meeting - Cave Run Lake