Cleveland County Trip Report: January 31, 2007

It was a cold and crisp day in Cleveland County on our annual Barn Owl Venture, but looking at the potential weather forecast, things could have been worse. Our first stop was near Shelby, where Jo Ann had found both Red-headed Woodpeckers and Fox Sparrow in the past week. We had terrific views of 2 woodpeckers, but the Fox Sparrow was only seen by the first car-load and no amount of "pishing" would make it reappear. Then it was off to Delight to our "almost-guaranteed" Barn Owls. However, today was not going to be our owl day and we could only find pellets and a few feathers. As usual, Lattimore produceda wealth of sparrows including some very good views of the wintering flock of White-crowns. Some were even making attempts to sing despite the cool conditions. Definitely one of the non-birding highlights was lunch - a great local Southern buffet. It was great value and enjoyed by all of us. Then it was another attempt for Barn Owls- this time down towards the SC line. Again there was a lot of whitewash, fresh pellets and feathers, but no owls. Alas, it seems that the "progress" in the county has resulted in many of the barns being torn down and others being abandoned. Despite the lack of owls today, it was still a great day with some very nice birding.