#198 - Bank Swallow

After spotting the Bank Swallow I started to get excited. Only 2 more to go and I would hit my goal of 200 life birds. I drove through the lots and watched all of the birds. Blue Jays, American Goldfinches, Song Sparrows, and all of the usual suspects in that habitat. After about 20 minutes I decided to head on to South Charleston. On the way out of the lot this Savannah Sparrow posed for a photo.

Savannah Sparrow

South Charleston... from what I could tell it is a small town built around giant grain silos. The eBird report said the Eurasian Collared-Dove was seen (and photographed) near the silos. 

They were easy to find. Head east down any street in town from Route 42 and you'll see them. There's one big parking lot, a smaller parking area on the side, and some railroad tracks. I figured if it was there it would be pretty easy to spot. I was so wrong. There were hundreds of birds around. I guess that is to be expected due to the grain. The problem was, most of them were Mourning Doves. The search went from looking for a needle in a haystack to looking for a needle in a pile of needles. 

If you've never seen a Eurasian Collared-Dove, and don't feel like Googling it, it looks VERY similar to a Mourning Dove, only it's a little on the chubby side, quite pale, and has a black ring on the back of it's neck... Kind of how I was as a child. At the time, all I knew to look for was a Mourning dove with a dirty neck. 

After looking at flocks of Mourning Doves for 30 minutes, I started looking at the eBird photo. I began to wonder if maybe ol' "Chia" opened a photo of a Mourning Dove in MS Paint and drew on the black mark just to get some tourism in South Charleston. I left the silos and drove around town a bit hoping to maybe find some new birds to add to my Clark County list. Turned out to be a bust. Robins and House Sparrow and Mourning Doves seem to make up the majority of the bird population there. Though I did see a Great Blue Heron fly over... I don't think he stopped anywhere in town. He was most likely just passing through on his way to somewhere else. Seems to be the way it goes in S.C.

Time to head home. Since I was back by the silos I checked Google maps to see if there was a faster way out of town. Apparently if you head down Mound St. it crossed Jamestown Rd. and becomes Sprague. Sprague takes you straight to Rt 42. I head down Mound and as I stop at the Jamestown Rd. stop sign a fat Mourning Dove lands on the power line across the street. Not wanting to see another Mourning Dove, I consider flipping it the bird and driving on, but instead I grab my binoculars... and then drop them to grab the camera.

#199 - Eurasian Collared-Dove

Love South Charleston! Decided to call it a day and head home.

Being a birder (and a photographer) I ended up making one more stop, like we all do. Cruising down Rt 42, as I neared the Indian Mound Reserve, I could hear a roar out the car window. Decided to use that as an excuse to make one more stop.

In addition to Peterson Park and Williamson Lane, there is the Cedar Cliff Falls area. Moving water draws photographers like the music of an ice cream truck does to kids (and me!). Most of the waterfalls I've seen in the Miami Valley are really just trickles or gentle streams flowing over some high rocks and the parks people call them waterfalls. So I was wondering what the roaring sound was coming from the creek area...

Cedar Cliff Falls

Now THAT is a waterfall! I looked up Cedar Cliff Falls online and it's usually one of those "gentle stream" water falls. Not that day. It was throwing up foam and making it impossible to hear if you were close. Really nice.

While watching the falls, this Pearl Crescent let me get pretty close.

Pearl Crescent

Turned out to be a pretty good day. Unfortunately I had to go to work, and wouldn't get a chance to go back out until Wednesday. Still chasing 200.