SLOW BIRDING IN SOUTHERN INDIANA

Most of us consider the last week of January and the first week of February to be the prime season for waterfowl in southern Indiana. Not so much this year! The best waterfowl looks this year were at the beginning of January. Since then we have had 3" of rain and the rivers are all at flood stage, with lots of water standing in the fields. This has scattered the ducks and geese far and wide. There is also no ice in Indiana. In fact there is not a major amount of ice on lakes and rivers until you get to central Michigan and Wisconsin. That has led to a wide dispersal of waterfowl throughout the midwest.
Last evening we held one of our winter Owl Prowls in northern Warrick County. Our target birds for the Owl Prowls are always the Short-eared Owls but they have been few and far between this year. Instead we parked our vehicles on a hill overlooking the major Long-eared Owl roost found earlier in the week by Steve Gifford, and waited for them to come off their roost. We were not disappointed. While waiting for the LEOW we were able to listen to a very vocal Great-horned Owl in the distance. Most were thrilled with that nature moment.
The LEOW started hooting about 10 minutes before they left their roosts and the main flight out of the pine trees came at 5:45pm. We spotted 9 individuals as they left their roosts.
The other excitement for the evening were 2 American Woodcocks peenting in the area. We also were able to see one at a separate location do their display flight. This is about 1 month early for these guys. Another sign of global warming?? Probably not but an interesting winter, or lack there of, none the less.
Tomorrow 4 of us will head up to Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area to try to find a Hooded Crane in with the 5,000 or so Sandhill Cranes. No one has found the bird yet but it stands to reason that the rare bird should be around Goose Pond somewhere. Maybe I will have something exciting to share tomorrow evening!