This morning, my wife and I went to Johnson Ferry North (CRNRA) in Cobb county. We walked from the newly paved parking lot and up along the Chattahoochee River until we reached the end of the swampy area. The boardwalk is currently being torn apart and it looks like they are going to build a new one in its place.

We had a good mix of winter birds and migrants and were able to relocate some of Nathan's birds from yesterday. We had a WINTER WREN, singing HERMIT THRUSHES, singing RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER franticly flitting around in the trees, a singing LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, several COMMON YELLOWTHROATS, and a WHITE-EYED VIREO. In the gravel parking lot near the bathrooms, there were 2 VESPER SPARROWS. Full list below. Not bad for an hour outing on a cold and cloudy morning.

The "Johnson Ferry Unit (CRNRA)" hotspot in eBird is relatively new. Many of you may have eBird reports for Johnson Ferry that are at a personal location instead of the new hotspot, and therefore, your data isn't included in the bar charts for the Johnson Ferry hotspot. I find the eBird bar charts really helpful and the more lists included, the more accurate they become. There is an easy way to get your lists included in the hotspot. You just have to merge your location with the hotspot.

*Log into your eBird account and click "My eBird." *On the right hand side, click the link "Manage My Locations." *Find your Johnson Ferry location in the list. If it has a "P" in the column for "Type," then it is a personal location (if there is an S, it is for the "shared" hotspot). If you have the "P," click edit, and it will load the map with your location in the center. *Under the name of the location, there are three options "Rename, "Move", and "Merge." Choose "Merge" and you should see the hotspots appear in red on the map. *The "Johnson Ferry Unit (CRNRA)" hotspot is located near the South unit of JF (down Columns Dr.). Choose that one, click Merge, and all your data should now be included in the eBird bar charts for Johnson Ferry. *eBird by default will not remove your old location, but you can easily remove it yourself. Back in your locations list, your "P" location for Johnson Ferry should now have 0 "# Checklists," and there should be an option to delete or remove that location.

There also may be other locations in your list that now have eBird hotspots, so you may want to run through your location list for any "P" types. Hopefully, this has been helpful, and please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.

Location: Johnson Ferry Unit (CRNRA) Observation date: 3/29/11 Number of species: 43

Canada Goose 4 Wood Duck 2 Mallard 1 Double-crested Cormorant 1 Great Blue Heron 1 Cooper's Hawk 2 Mourning Dove 3 Great Horned Owl 1 heard only Belted Kingfisher 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 2 Eastern Phoebe 2 White-eyed Vireo 1 heard only Blue Jay 2 American Crow 2 Fish Crow 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 7 Barn Swallow 3 Carolina Chickadee 11 Tufted Titmouse 7 Brown-headed Nuthatch 1 Carolina Wren 4 Winter Wren 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3 Hermit Thrush 3 1 singing softly, 2 calling American Robin 1 Brown Thrasher 2 singing Orange-crowned Warbler 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 8 Pine Warbler 2 Louisiana Waterthrush 1 heard and saw singing in the swampy margins Common Yellowthroat 5 Eastern Towhee 2 Field Sparrow 6 Vesper Sparrow 2 gravel parking lot Song Sparrow 1 White-throated Sparrow 9 Northern Cardinal 5 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Common Grackle 6 American Goldfinch 3

Jim and Allison Healy Sandy Springs (Fulton Co.)

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