Rare Bird Alert

Now it has been awhile since I chased a bird, however yesterday evening while relaxing on my front porch I happen to to see the Facebook post of 6 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks at Gilmore Ponds Metro Park in Butler County Ohio. Well maybe I should have chased them when I first read the post, but being rather comfortable at the time I thought it could wait till the morning. Somehow I thought they might stick around for the night.

So this morning after a couple cups of coffee I headed off to Gilmore Ponds. Now this isn’t a life bird for me, but a pretty rare one nonetheless considering their range. Now Gilmore Ponds doesn’t have a very big parking lot, just enough for maybe a dozen cars. Well when I pulled in it was at the limit.

Well as you’d expect there were plenty of birders looking for them. It seemed they moved during the night. But about 30 minutes later someone noticed that they flew in from somewhere and settled back onto the same log they were sitting on yesterday.

“On The Road”

Well it was another successful trip up to Lake Erie for spring migration this year. The weather was typical as you’d expect with very windy conditions and either too hot or cool temperatures. I traveled up early last Tuesday, arriving by 8 am, and staying till Friday late morning. This year was a little different than in years past. In the past I’ve stayed in local hotels either in Port Clinton, or Oregon. We’ve also stayed in the lodge at Maumee Bay State Park, and one of the cabins in years past. This year I camped, just like one of the first times I visited with my older son. And with my senior discount I was able to camp for the 3 nights for $50.00, which isn’t bad, considering it had electrical hookups. I ran an extension cord into the tent so I could run a fan on those hot days, plus I needed to recharge my cell phone overnight. And since I wasn’t planning on any cooking, coffee was a must have in the morning. So my wife came up with the idea of taking our Kuerig along to make my morning coffee. Brillant!

Breakfast was coffee, a banana, and a granola bar. Lunch was a PB & J sandwich and trail mix. All I had to do then is eat out for my dinner. Birding on a budget.

Home Sweet Home

In years past I would get to the boardwalk early enough to beat the big rig photographers before they set up house either on the tower, or the walkway up to the tower. This year I just couldn’t get there early enough. It was always the same group of people, set up in the same spot every day.

For the most part my morning was spent on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh till either the crowd of people drove me off, or the birding slowed down. So if I wasn’t at the boardwalk I was at either Metzger Marsh, Ottawa N.W.R., or the back roads looking for wading birds in some of the sky ponds in the farm fields.

Both Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos seemed more common than in years past. Normally I’d struggle to get the Black-billed, however this year it was an easy “tick”.

 This Screech Owl was found towards the end of the Estuary Trail.

The nest box where this little guy was found is on the boardwalk at Maumee Bay State Park Nature Trail. And just to the right and above overlooking everything was…

a red phase Eastern Screech Owl.

Flycatchers made an appearance in a big way while I was there. All the ones I was able to identify I did by their call. So when I took a photo of one if I didn’t hear it call, I left it as a unidentified flycatcher.

 Another bird I didn’t have to work to hard in finding was a Snowy Egret. Every year it can either be a hit or miss bird, however this year one could always be found along the causeway as you drove towards the parking lot at Magee Marsh.

This year there was a treat for everyone. A very cooperative Black-crowned Night Heron. Easily spotted from the boardwalk on a daily basis, it was nothing to take a few dozen photos of this beautiful bird as it stalked for food.

Another bird I’ve had a bit of luck finding, usually along the drive of Metzger Marsh at one of the pull-offs, are Common Gallinule. I find them such striking birds.

Pretty reliable in the past few years are Sandhill Cranes. For the most part I’ve heard them as the feed just out of eye sight, but this year I was able to catch a couple in flight while I was stopped on the causeway.

  However the real reason the majority of birders come to Lake Erie, and this special spot in particular are the warblers. This year did not disappoint with 21 species seen. For me anytime I can reach 20 or more warblers during my stay here I feel blessed, and this year was a good year. Maybe not for the quality of the photographs, but for the birds it was great.

 The ever present Yellow Warbler

Mourning warblers seemed particularly plentiful than in years past, with female being spotted from the observation tower. Sorry for the poor quality, these skulking birds are tough in even the best conditions.

I think a front came through while I was there because it seemed that the Black-throated Green and Canada Warblers appeared in good numbers.

I know, for some reason I have really bad luck when it comes to both the Canada and Blackburnian Warbler in getting a clear photograph. I’ll just keep trying till I get a good one. I hate auto-focus.

Of course you would have to tilt back your head with a stick in the way. Nothing comers easy.I’m definitely a better birder than photographer.

Magnolia Warbler

 Not as striking as the males, the female Magnolia warblers were a little more cooperative for us inconsistent photographers.

And as expected the Prothonotary Warbler stole the show. Always present since they breed here, their clear song can be heard all over the boardwalk, and they tend to sit still long enough for people like me.

And considering how windy it was, even the birds found it difficult to keep their feathers in place.

You would think that the Yellow Warbler was the most common warbler species here, but I think it’s the Common Yellowthroat.

Northern Parula

I think the first song I heard as I stepped onto the boardwalk was of a Northern Parula

This was one of my photographic nemesis birds, the Bay-breasted Warbler. Now they may not be the best of quality, but I’m really pleased.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

But not everything was warbler believe it or not. I was able to capture some decent shots of some of the other inhabitants.

Red-eyed Vireo

If for some reason you need a Baltimore Oriole for your life list, this is the place to find them. They’re everywhere.

This male Wood Duck was tied up at one of the ponds at the golf course at Maumee Bay. I think I made a inadvertent pun.

Wait a minute, that’s no bird!

Trip List

1. Eastern Meadowlark
2. Canada Goose
3. European Starling
4. American Robin
5. Common Grackle
6. Mourning Dove
7. House Sparrow
8. Brown-headed Cowbird
9. Killdeer
10. Cooper’s Hawk
11. Barn Swallow
12. Tree Swallow
13. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
14. Purple Martin
15. Cliff Swallow
16. Chimney Swift
17. Red-winged Black Bird
18. Ring-billed Gull
19. Herring Gull
20. Common Tern
21. Gray Catbird
22. Eastern Phoebe
23. Carolina Wren
24. House Wren
25. Great Egret
26. Snowy Egret
27. Black-crowned Night Heron
28. Green Heron
29. Double-creasted Cormorant
30. Trumpeter Swan
31. Bald Eagle
32. Red-tailed Hawk
33. Northern Harrier
34. Blue Jay
35. Orchard Oriole
36. Baltimore Oriole
37. Warbling Vireo
38. Red-eyed Vireo
39. Philadelphia Vireo
40. Eastern Wood Pewee
41. Least Flycatcher
42. Willow Flycatcher
43. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
44. Acadian Flycatcher
45. Olive-sided Flycatcher
46. Eastern Kingbird
47. Indigo Bunting
48. Red-breasted Nuthatch
49. Northern Cardinal
50. Downy Woodpecker
51. Red-bellied Woodpecker
52. Gray-cheeked Thrush
53. Swainson’s Thrush
54. Lincoln’s Sparrow
55. White-throated Sparrow
56. White-crowned Sparrow
57. Song Sparrow
58. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
59. Horned Lark
60. Mallard
61. Wood Duck
62. Semi-palmated Plover
63. Least sandpiper
64. Dunlin
65. White-rumped Sandpiper
66. Pied-billed Grebe
67. Common Gallinule
68. Common Nighthawk
69. Yellow-billed Cuckoo
70. Black-billed Cuckoo
71. Cedar Waxwing
72. Northern Flicker
73. Wood Thrush Rose-breasted Grosbeack
74. Eastern Bluebird
75. White-eyed Vireo
76. Eastern Towhee
77. Eastern Goldfinch
78. Sandhill Crane
79. Screech Owl
80. Peregrine Falcon
81. Marsh Wren
82. Yellow Warbler
83. Common Yellowthroat
84. Northern Parula
85. Magnolia Warbler
86. American Redstart
87. Nashville warbler
88. Blackpoll Warbler
89. Cape May warbler
90. Chestnut-sided Warbler
91. Black-throated Blue warbler
92. Black and White warbler
93. Tennessee Warbler
94. Wilson’s warbler
95. Bay-breasted warbler
96. Prothonotary Warbler
97. Mourning Warbler
98. Black-throated Green warbler
99. Blackburnian Warbler
100. Canada Warbler
101. Connecticut Warbler
102. Palm Warbler
103. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
104. American Woodcock

New Yard Birds…WHAT?

Yesterday I just got back from 3 1/2 days at Magee Marsh and surrounding local hotspots, and still need to sort through my thoughts and photos. However in the mean time a quick update on an exceptional day at home prior to leaving for Lake Erie country.

First off while getting the car loaded with my camping gear I heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which in itself isn’t particularly rare or new to my yard list, just unusual.

Now remember that for a bird to make it onto my yard list it has to be seen or heard from my yard. Make sense right? Pretty simple. So it was while I was taking a break from packing I heard a bird song that’s very familiar. So familiar I couldn’t fathom it being real at first.  But it kept up a few more times confirming it to be a Prothonotary Warbler. Now’s there a bird I never thought would be anywhere close to my house, but there it was singing in a nearby patch of woods. Unbelievable!

It was shortly after that I caught out of the corner of my eye a bird landing in the top of a nearby tree. A few moments later it flew down and landed on the telephone lines right in front of my house and started to feed.

Eastern Kingbird

The Kingbird only hung around for a few minutes till it decided to feed somewhere else. I’m hoping it will stay around what with the empty lot across the street that back ups to where the Prothonotary was singing from. Time will tell.

Isn’t spring migration fun?