During January of the present year (1930) I had occasion to drive from New Hampton, Iowa, to Canastota, New York, a distance in direct line of perhaps not over a thousand miles, but with the inclusion of side trips and an occasional detour, about two hundred miles was added. I left New Hampton at noon, January 16th, and arrived at Canastota the evening of January 25th. A list of the birds seen enroute was closely kept. Most of those observed were seen from the road as I was driving along, but some were added when I would stop for a day or two to visit with friends and to take an occasional excursion into the fields and woods

Spiker, Chas. J.

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Twelve Hundred Miles of Winter Birds

University of Northern Iowa

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science Volume 37 Annual Issue Article 101 1930 Twelve Hundred Miles of Winter Birds Chas. J. Spiker Copyright ©1930 Iowa Academy of Science, Inc. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias Recommended Citation Spiker, Chas. J. (1930) "Twelve Hundred Miles of Winter Birds," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 37(1), 371-374. Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol37/iss1/101 This Research is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa Academy of Science at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science by an authorized editor of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@uni.edu. TWELVE HUNDRED MILES OF WINTER BIRDS CHAS. J. SPIKER During January of the present year ( 1930) I had occasion to drive from New Hampton, Iowa, to Canastota, New York, a dis-tance in direct line of perhaps not over a thousand miles, but with · the inclusion of side trips and an occasional detour, about two hundred miles was added. I left New, Hampton at noon, January 16th, and arrived at Canastota the evening of January 25th. A list of the birds seen enroute was closely kept. Most of those observed were seen from the road as I was driving along, but some were added when I would stop for a clay or two to visit with friends and to take an occasional excursion into the fields and I woods. The weather was what might have been expected during Jan-uary, although there was a great variance in temperature. On the night of January 17th, the mercury reached 26 degrees below zero, while through Indiana and Ohio the registration was about zero, and I finished up in New York with the temperature at almost ten above. There was about a foot of snow on the ground much of the way, but I drove through Indiana and Ohio a few days after a series of heavy rains which had filled streams bank full with water. It was evident that a mild winter had been enjoyed in northern Indiana and Ohio for a few species were found wintering there that ordinarily migrate. The roughest driving was found about Dubuque, Iowa, Galena, Illinois, and Warsaw, New York, while the most level was found from Chicago across Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania into western New York. Wherever the way was hilly there was considerable timber, and where level, there were almost no trees. As a conse-quence, the variety of birds found was considerable. Digressions from continuous driving occurred at Winthrop, Iowa, where I stopped from the evening of the 16th, to the morn-ing of the 19th, at Williamsport, Ohio, where I spent half a day beyond remaining over night, and at Interlaken, New York, where I stopped from the evening of the 23rd to the morning of the 25th. The bird list was affected very little by the second stop, but at Winthrop and at Interlaken a day each was spent in the field, 371 1Spiker: Twelve Hundred Miles of Winter BirdsPublished by UNI ScholarWorks, 1930372 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE which resulted in some species being found which would not have been added otherwise. On the 18th, accompanied by a friend, I spent the afternoon at the grounds of the State Hospital at Inde-pendence, Iowa, and the 24th was spent along Cayuga Lake, at Taughannock Falls, New York. The smallest number of individuals was found on the 17th, which was very cold, and I was out of the house but once during the clay, to take a walk up to the village of "Winthrop. The largest number found was on the 21st, when I drove from Montpelier, Ohio, to Williamsport, Ohio, the way taking me through some hilly portions as well as prairie country, and with the weather sufficiently mild as to bring about some activity among the birds seen along the road. The total number of species listed for the trip was 34 and I shall itemize them to show how they were distributed, with a sum-marizing table at the close for the sake of comparison of daily records. Herring Gull Larus argentatus. Seen along Lake Michigan at Chicago, and at Auburn and Syracuse, New York. American Merganser M ergus americamts. Seen along Lake Michigan at Chicago, and on Cayuga Lake, New York. Black Duck Anas rubri,bes. Found only at Cayuga Lake. Quail C ofinus 7Jirginianus 7'1rginianus. Three individuals at the State Hospital grounds, Independence, Iowa. Ring-necked Pheasant Phasianus torquatus. Seen commonly in Iowa and New York, but none in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio or Pennsylvania. Mourning Dove Zenaidu.ra macroura carolinensis. Five individuals flew across the road in front of me at Brushy Prairie, Indiana on the 20th, and the next day saw three about a barn near Montpelier, Ohio. Marsh Hawk Circus hudsonius. Two in Iowa, and one in Ohio. Sharp-shinned Hawk Accipiter velox. Saw one perched in the top of a dead tree near Willoughby, Ohio. Stopped and got out of the car to make identification. American Goshawk Astur atricapillus atricapillus. Saw one at Williams-port, Ohio. Red-tailed Hawk Buteo borealis borealis. A pair near Geneseo, New York. Rough-legged Hawk Archilmteo lagopiis sancti-fohannis. Saw three in-dividuals on the 19th during the drive through Illinois. Short-eared Owl Asia fiammeus. Two individuals found in a swale on the 18th, on State Hospital grounds, Independence. Screech Owl Otns asio asio. One specimen, red phase, dead m the road near Elbridge, New York. Hairy Woodpecker Dr31abates vil/osus 11illosus. Found only when stops were made, viz., Winthrop, Iowa and Interlaken, New York. None seen from the car while driving. 2Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, Vol. 37 [1930], No. 1, Art. 101https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol37/iss1/101TWELVE HUNDRED MILES OF WINTER BIRDS 373 Downy Woodpecker Dryobotes villosus mediomts. One or two seen nearly every day while driving. Red-headed Woodpecker Melonerpes erythrocepholus. One flew into a tree beside the road just west of South Bend, Indiana. Red-bellied Woodpecker Centurus corolinus. One flew to a pole besi~e the road at East Dubuque, Illinois. Prairie Horned Lark Otocoris olpestris pro.ticolo. Small flocks seen from Iowa to Ohio. Blue Jay Cyonocitto cristoto cristato. Not common; seen only from Iowa to Indiana. Crow Corvus brochyrhynchos brachyrh·ynchos. Common on the entire trip. Starling Sturnus vulgaris. Seen first near Burlington, Ohio, and common from that point on east. Bronzed Grackle Qniscalns quiscula aeneus. An individual flew along parallel with the car for a short distance at West Salem, Ohio. Pine Grosbeak Pinicola enucleator leurnra. Found six individuals drink-ing at a small stream at Trumansburg, New York, on the 24th; four more at Auburn, New York, next day. English Sparrow Passer domestiws domesticus. Very common in towns and cities but less so in rural districts. Snow Bunting Plectrophena:i: nivalis nivalis. Flocks seen in Iowa, In-diana, Ohio and New Yark. Lapland Longspur Calcarius lapponicus lopponicits. Seen from Iowa to Indiana. Tree Sparrow Spizello monticola monticolo. Common along the entire trip wherever brush and trees existed. Slate-colored Junco hmco h)'emolis hj'emolis. Seen only in Iowa. Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis. Found in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio; last seen at Williamsport, Ohio. \Vhite-breasted K uthatch Sitto corolinensis carolinensis. Seen only on digressions, at State Hospital Grounds, Independence, Iowa, and at Taughan-nock Falls, New York. Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitto canodensis. One individual only, at State Hospital grounds, Independence, Iowa. Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor. Two individuals seen along the road near Mansfield, Ohio. Chickadee Penthestes atricapillits atricapillus. Common bird all along the trip. Robin Planesticus migratorius migratorius. A flock of about sixty seen in a park just east of Ripley, New York, along Lake Erie. 3Spiker: Twelve Hundred Miles of Winter BirdsPublished by UNI ScholarWorks, 1930374 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Table showing· number of each species seen by days, with total number of each seen. J 16Jl711s1.19 j 2o I 21 I 22 I 23 I 24 I 25 I TOTAL 1. Herring Gull 2. American Merganser 3. Black Duck 4. Quail .5. Ring-necked Pheasant 6. Mourning Dove 7. Marsh Hawk 8. Sharp-shinned Hawk 9. American Goshawk 10. Red-tailed Hawk 11. Rough-legged Hawk 12. Short-eared Owl 13. Screech Owl 14. Hairy Woodpecker 15. Downy Woodpecker 16. Red-headed Woodpecker 17. Redr bellied Wood pecker 18. Prairie Horned Lctrk 19. Blue Jay 20. Crow 21. Starling 22. Bronzed Grackle 23. Pine Grosbeak 24. English Sparrow 25. Snow Bunting 26. Lapland Longspur 27. Tree Sparrov; 28. Slate-colored Junco 29. Cardinal 30. White-breasted Nuthatch 31. Red-breasted Nuthatch 32. Tufted Titmouse 33. Chickadee 34. Robin Totals NEw HAMPTON, IowA. I I i I I ~I I 11 I ~1 3 I I 5 I I 1 1 j 1 I I 11 1 15 I I 21 31 I ,I ,I I 26 ~. 7il ~1 22 2 I 11 I I I 80 30i25 425~240 1 30 6 6 1 5 1 2 3 11 2 3 1 3 1 116 41 4 1 I I 3 1 I I 2 20 30 I s 8 I 13 l~ 3 10 28 1 I 8 3 1 1 2 3 2 1 7 21 1 2 8 1 1 32 6 79 8 24 1 10 19 550 715 400 14 190 50 10:1 754 1 1 6 1()i 500 85 85 160 100 1730 20 1 30 82 50 56 40 30 2 LS 99 (J 2 2 11 8 11 1 2 2 1 11 1 29 60 60 ~ j 133l49j61 j586]265j l0;4j 145j350l280j83ll 3774 4Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, Vol. 37 [1930], No. 1, Art. 101https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol37/iss1/101

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