Notes From The Field

I’ve been getting in a little morning birding this week while the weather’s been good and migration is still among us. I hit up a few of my regular spring time haunts hoping for some decent birds, and some photo opportunities. So I was off to Magrish Riverlands Preserve and Shawnee Lookout Park, both are great spots for migrant warblers.

Cerulean Warbler has always been a difficult bird for me to photograph, and this individual located at Shawnee Lookout allowed me at least one decent shot, even if it’s not that great.

Blue-winged Warbler also at Shawnee Lookout.

 And how could you resist getting a shot of this Summer Tanager.

This Tennessee Warbler was found at Magrish Preserve yesterday.

Also at Magrish was this male and female Red-eyed Viroes. As I watched the male was putting on courtship displays, which I’ve never seen before.

Notes From The Field

It was a beautiful Sunday. Much like Spring’s in the past it started out on the cool side, and as the sun rose even higher into the sky, so did the temps. The Ohio Valley is really beginning to shed its’ Winter bareness with more flowers blooming every week. My own yard work is starting to ramp up as bushes need to be pruned back and dead branches picked up in the yard before I mow. Plus the vegetable garden needs to be tilled and prepped before any seed hits the soil. As busy as folks get this time of year, there’s always time to get in a little birding before the yard work consumes the rest of the daylight.

One of my favorite parks to go birding is Magrish Preserve. This small preserve borders the Little Miami River just upstream from the confluence with the Ohio River, and can really be a good migrant trap. With all the recent rain we’ve had the Little Miami River has left its banks and a good portion of the park in under water. So I’m on high ground doing some casual birding as I stroll around the area trying to keep my feet dry.

Surprisingly it’s pretty quiet. I approach a group of 3 or 4 Cedar trees and I start to notice a group of 6 Golden-crowned Kinglets feeding on the berries. I become entranced with the Kinglets and spent a good portion of my time just watching these hyperactive little birds.

Now this next picture isn’t of a Golden-crowned Kinglet, however while I was at California Woods after leaving Magrish Preserve, the annual Eastern Pheobe pair were putting on quite a show. This may be be my best photo this year so far.

Notes From The Field

Magrish Riverland Preserve, California Woods, Fly Ash Pong, Ellis Lake, Zoo Farm

The forecast called for rain later on today around dinner time, so with Kathy and David at work, and Ethan spending some time with a friend in Springfield Ohio, it was no better time to get some early morning birding done before the rain came.

With the tremendous luck Jon and I had last Saturday at Shawnee Lookout I needed to see if the Warblers were still as plentiful. Traffic was light as I made my way down I-71 towards my first stop for the day, Magrish Riverland Preserve. 

Seasonal flooding can make this park almost impassable along some of the lower trails, however today the trails were open and the song birds were active as I pulled into the parking lot. And it’s from this parking lot that some of the best birding can be found. Prothonotary Warblers breed here and are always a delight as flashes of yellow catch the corner of your eye. 2 early Blackpoll Warblers were singing and giving some decent views from the parking lot as well. I meet a friend of a friend who is also a birder, so we hooked up for about 30 minutes. After which he left to take care of some work and I made my way slowly through the park and back towards my car for the short 3 minute drive to my next stop. California Woods and my hopes of catching a Louisiana Waterthrush.

At 113 acres this little gem within the confines for Cincinnati offers some great birding. It has some very nice hiking trails and a stream which attracts the Waterthrush. I normally just stick close to the road and the stream where the most activity is. However today I decided to take a hike and enjoy the solitude of the woods.

The beginning of Trillium Trail

The wild flowers were in bloom as I made my way up the trail to the top of the ridge, where it winds about and then slowly descends.

Vireos and Gnatcatchers were keeping me company as fewer and fewer Warblers were seen, let alone heard. The trees were really leafing out making it harder to see anything in the canopy.

After reaching the bottom I started to walk back towards my car. Across from where I parked there is this small open area where birds will sometimes feed making it easier to see them. A bridge spans the stream and terminates at this open area. That’s when I heard the Waterthrush. It was staying one step ahead of me as I chased it down the stream towards the entrance to the park. It finally came to rest long enough for me to snap this poor photo.

He’s right in the center with this leaf blocking it’s head.

Now I’m happy. And with that recent addition to my year list it was time to head off North to my next stop, Ellis Lake. However on the way I made a quick stop at this series of small, fenced in ponds that local birders call “Fly Ash Pond”. They’re not very nice to look at and because it has a fence around might be a good thing. Who knows what could be growing in there. But it can be a hot spot for birds, and today it was for me, because out of the corner of my eye a flash of blue zipped by and perched on the fence. My first thought was Indigo Bunting. But being my lucky day it turns out to be a Blue Grosbeak.

A truly sad picture, but one where you can use it to ID the bird.

Happy once again with yet another new bird for the year I drove up the highway towards Ellis Lake to see if any more shore birds were there. With the afternoon wearing on and chores facing me when I get home this stop and the next were short. A small flock of Least Sandpipers were seen feeding along the edge of one of the larger sky pools that dotted the field at Ellie Lake. More wading birds were there than has been in the past few visits, so maybe things will turn around especially with this coming rain.

My last quick stop was the Cincinnati Zoo Farm near my home. Yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpipers were the only wading birds here, so after scanning the ponds for about 30 minutes I made my way home and the impending mowing of the lawn.

Notable birds for the day include:

1. Turkey Vulture
2. Red-tailed Hawk
3. Cooper’s Hawk
4. Northern Parula
5. Yellow Warbler
6. Blackpoll Warbler
7. Yellow-rumped Warbler
8. Prothonotary arbler
9. Common Yellowthroat
10. Louisiana Waterthrush
11. Palm Warbler
12. Pine Warbler
13. Yellow-throated Vireo
14. Red-eyed Vireo
15. Warbling Vireo
16. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
17. Chipping Sparrow
18. Field Sparrow
19. White-throated Sparrow
20. Swamp Sparrow
21. Song Sparrow
22. Gray Catbird
23. Northern Cardinal
24. Carolina Chickadee
25. Tufted Titmouse
26. American Robin
27. American Goldfinch
28. Mourning Dove
29. Blue Jay
30. Indigo Bunting
31. Carolina Wren House Wren
32. Pileated Woodpecker
33. Red-bellied Woodpecker
34. Downy Woodpecker
35. Northern Flicker
36. Brown Thrasher
37. Blue Grosbeak
38. White-breasted Nuthatch
39. Eastern Towhee
40. Canada Goose
41. Great Blue Heron
42. Killdeer
43. Common Grackle
44. Red-winged Black Bird
45. Solitary Sandpiper
46. Pectoral Sandpiper
47. Spotted sandpiper
48. Least Sandpiper
49. Greater Yellowleg
50. Lesser Yellowleg
51. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
52. Mallard
53. Wood Duck
54. Blue-winged Teal
55. Eastern Phoebe

Notes From The Field

Fly Ash Pond/ Magrish Riverlands Preserve/ Armleder Park

I needed to go birding and with the beautiful weather we’ve had these past few days I was still undecided where to go. A text from Jon saying that he was going to bird locally made up my mind. We were going to meet at Fly Ash Pond to check on any wading shorebirds.

I’m not sure what the purpose of Fly Ash Pond is, or why it has a chain link fence surrounding it, however it does have a reputation of attracting some good shorebirds. Located next to Luken Airport, and easily accessed via a gravel path leading from a parking  near the bike path, I arrived first despite the best efforts of rush hour to slow me up. There wasn’t too much action until I laid eyes on  a smallest sandpiper with a longish bill that gave the appearance of a slight droop at the end. As I was trying to rule out all the possibilities Jon walks up, he sights in the bird, and says that looks like a Western Sandpiper. Which was what I thought in the first place but didn’t want to commit until Jon showed up. As with all good things it flew over to another part of the pond where we lost it.

I was there for over an hour when we decided it was time to change locations. Magrish was next. 5 minutes later were in the parking lot scanning the trees that border the lot. Magrish Riverlands Preserve can be a hit or miss place. The majority of the time it’s a miss, and the feeling that we were going to have a repeat was quickly dispelled as I noticed a large bird, brown over a white un-streaked belly high up in the trees feeding. Cuckoo! But which one. I had to get Jon on it in case he had a better angle. Black-billed Cuckoo. We get them in our area, but they’re not as common as their Yellow-billed cousins. Things were looking up as we came upon a small group of Tennessee Warblers. We watched closely in case there were other species of warblers with them. It was about this time that Jon received a phone call from his friend he works with. Jon had told me about his friend previously who is new to the area and that he’s sort of a beginner to birding. Well he’s going to join us. As we continue to bird waiting for Jason (that’s the guys name) we come across another small pocket of Tennessee Warblers, however this time there is a Canada Warbler with them. Very cool, one of my favorites.

Jason finally joins up with us and we continue to cover Magrish. That’s when Magrish let’s a person down. It got pretty quiet. The group consensus was move on to Armleder before it gets too dark.

Here’s another place where I’ve not been since the Spring. We drove over and parked in the Southern part where Duck Creek flows into the Little Miami River. My knee was starting to ache a little and walking on level, paved ground was what I needed. Chimney Swifts were everywhere. Hundreds of them covering the sky feeding on insects as they dart6ed back and forth across the sky. Then occasionally we’d spot a Common Nighthawk as more and more of them are showing up in good numbers as they migrate through.

It was a great night birding with Jon and Jason. Good company. Good conversation. Good Birds. All we needed was some beer.

Notable birds for the evening include:

1. Western Sandpiper
2. Spotted Sandpiper
3. Semipalmated Sandpiper
4. Black-crowned Night Heron
5. Great Blue Heron
6. Green Heron
7. Killdeer
8. Mourning Dove
9. Cedar Waxwing
10. Blue-gray gnatcatcher
11. Downy Woodpecker
12. Carolina Chickadee
13. Tufted Titmouse
14. Tennessee Warbler
15. Canada warbler
16. Black-billed Cuckoo
17. Northern cardinal
18. Brown Thrasher
19. Carolina Wren
20. Indigo Bunting
21. Chimney Swift Barn Swallow
22. Common Nighthawk
23. Wood Duck
24. Gray Catbird
25. Eastern Kingbird
26. B-17 Flying Fortress (on display at Lunken Airport)

Multiple Notes From The Field

Newtown Farmers Market, Ellis Lake/ West Chester Wetlands, Avoca Trailhead Park, Magrish Riverlands Preserve

As a bird blogger there comes a time when birding supersedes blogging. And such is the case these last several days. I would rather write one big blog, than to miss an opportunity to go birding during migration when things are really firing up.

So to start, last Sunday I made a deal with Kathy that I’d do the grocery shopping  if I could get the morning off to do a little birding. DEAL. So I was off to Riverside park in Newtown right across from Newtown Farmers Market, where for the last several days a Long-billed Dowitcher and other cool stuff had been hangin’. Across the road from the park is a grass field that was retaining water and the perfect location for your wading type birds.

Spotting the Dowitchers was easy enough, telling the difference between the 2 species is an entirely different matter. There were 3 Dowitchers and one was very different from the others, so this was the one I focused my attention on.

Doing a side by side comparison with the other 2 and studying the field marks I felt confident that we had 2 Short-billed and 1 Long-billed Dowitcher.

After 30 minutes I was planning on going home but I had a great idea that maybe I should drop by Avoca Park that’s right on the way back towards home. I’ve only been to Avoca Park once before and it was for a very short visit. This time I thought I’d walk into the woods a little and get a feel for the park. And what a great feeling it was. Warblers were everywhere. Yellow-rumped Warblers were to numerous to count after a while and Nashville and Blue-winged were always on either side of me as I made my way slowly along well maintained trails.

I could have stayed a whole day, but a deal is a deal so I headed home to  keep my end of the bargain.

Now yesterday with Kathy in school I thought a quick stop at Ellis Lake & West Chester Wetlands was in order. With all the rain lately and a few reports that came across the “sightings log”, there appeared to be some decent activity going on. As I pulled into the parking lot me eyes were towards the darkening sky than the birds  feeding in several large sky pools.

With the rumble of thunder in the background I quickly noted all the species that I saw and did some quick calculations as to how many and left with lightning showing up on the horizon.

2 Short-billed Dowitchers

30 minutes just isn’t enough time to thoroughly count all the different species in a given area. However by the time I got going the rain started to pick up in intensity, so by the time i got home it was coming down in buckets.

So today John Marvin e-mailed me wanting to know if I wanted to meet over in Newtown again and see if we can re-locate the Long-billed Dowitchers. I got there first and started to scan the now larger body of water. John showed up a few minutes later and then we got serious. We moved down the side of the road to get a better view and to see if they were somewhere we hadn’t looked . John was the first to spot them. All told there were 3 Dowitchers. 2 of them were definitely Short-billed, however there was one that had that look to it.

This is the one with that look to it. Maybe a possible Long-billed?

A sleepy Short-billed Dowitcher

I can’t believe that I caught this one flapping it’s wings.

After leaving Newtown John and myself drove to Magrish Riverlands Preserve. We stayed for about an hour and covered as much as possible. I think some of the birds that were there yesterday moved on after the storms passed through. It was pretty quiet except for a couple of FOY birds, Philadelphia Vireo and Veery. At 6:30 we parted ways so we both could get home at a decent hour.

Notable birds for the past few days include:

1. Great Blue Heron
2. Warbling Vireo
3. Philadelphia Vireo
4. Blue Jay
5. Carolina Chickadee
6. Tufted Titmouse
7. Carolina Wren
8. American Robin
9. Northern Cardinal
10. Song Sparrow
11. Cedar Waxwing
12. Indigo Bunting
13. Baltimore Oriole
14. Veery
15. Canada Goose
16. Wood Duck
17. Mallard
18. Blue-winged Teal
19. American Coot
20. Blue-winged Warbler
21. Tennessee Warbler
22. Nashville Warbler
23. Yellow Warbler
24. Yellow-rumped Warbler
25. Northern Parula
26. Palm Warbler
27. Common Yellowthroat
28. Mourning Dove
29. Gray Catbird
30. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
31. Chimney Swift
32. Tree Swallow
33. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
34. Downy Woodpecker
35. Northern Flicker
36. Red-bellied Woodpecker
37. Belted Kingfisher
38. Solitary Sandpiper
39. Spotted Sandpiper
40. Least Sandpiper
41. Semipalmated Sandpiper
42. Dunlin
43. Greater Yellowleg
44. Lesser Yellowleg
45. Pectoral Sandpipper
46.  Short-billed Dowitcher
47. Long-billed Dowitcher
48. Killdeer
49. Semipalmated Plover
50. Northern Shoveler
51. Virginai Rail
52. Brown-headed Cowbird
53. Common Grackle
54. American Goldfinch

Notes From The Field

Daniel Drake Park, California Woods, Magrish Riverlands Preserve, Armleder Park, Avoca Trailhead Park, & Grand Valley

If you haven’t noticed by now, yesterdays field trip involved following the Little Miami River north from California Woods, and ending at Grand Valley. Granted Daniel Drake Park doesn’t border the Little Miami, however it is on the way, so I stopped there first. Several weeks ago a Pine Warbler was sighted there, so I thought I’d see if the bird was still there. They have a nice stand of Evergreens which would entice me if I was a Pine Warbler.

Now there’s something about Pine Warblers that drives me nuts. They sound almost identical to Chipping Sparrows. So for over an hour I chased down every song that sounded like a Pine Warbler, only to find it to be another Chipping Sparrow. A Pine Warbler was later spotted at Avoca Trailhead.

From there it was a short drive to California Woods to try and find another target bird for the day, a Louisiana Waterthrush. Lick Run Creek runs through this 113 acre heavily wooded forest. And it’s along this creek that I hope to find the Waterthrush. I’ve seen Waterthrush here in the past, and some recent sightings has given me confidence that I’ll spot at least one. I hope. For 30 minutes I walked up and down the road hearing and see everything but a Louisiana Waterthrush. I didn’t want to get too far away from the creek and hike up into the woods, even as tempting as it looked. At one point I went back to the bird-mobile and reacquainted myself with it’s song. 2 minutes later I hear the song coming from the nature center. The song was loud and clear and constant. I had it cornered in a bend of the creek prior to the bridge when it flew to a nearby tree and continued to sing. Getting a proper ID on it was the easy part, getting a picture was different. Like most Warblers, they don’t like to sit still long enough for photos. Digi-binning a was out of the question, so I pulled out my other camera and took this photo.

I wish the Waterthrush was as cooperative as this Eastern Towhee.

2 minutes after leaving California Woods, I pull into Magrish Riverlands Preserve. This is one of my favorite spots for migrant Warblers and with the dry weather we’ve had lately, it should be relatively dry. Well I was correct on the dry part. For the hour I spent here I would have thought the birding would be better than it was. Picking up a couple FOS birds, I made my way to Armleder Park, where the bulk of the day I was going to spend.

Armleder Park was a bustle of activity as I pulled in. I think every dog owner in Cincinnati had their dogs romping in the enclosed dog parks. That’s right they have 2 of them now. I guess it’s like an overflow parking lot for dogs.  Families were out in force with young ones in tow as they biked, hiked, skated, their way around the paved paths that loop around and through the park. For myself it was onto the “Bean Field”. And what do my wondering eyes should appear, but Great Egrets.

As the Sun rose higher, the morning frost finally melted away and more layers of clothing peeled off. Getting along into the late morning and early afternoon my target birds of Savannah and Vesper Sparrows were becoming harder to find. I did find one Savannah Sparrow as it hide under a bush.

Savannah Sparrow

I dipped on the Vesper Sparrow but I did have some luck with 2 fly over Rusty Blackbirds. I did find one Song Sparrow that held still long enough for me to get these 2 pretty good pictures.

The Tree Swallows were everywhere today. Laying claim to empty Bluebird houses, they were easy to photograph as they lighted on the post that held up the bird house.

With a couple of hours till needing to be back home I left Armleder Park and followed the river to Avoca Trailhead Park. Situated along the bike trail this is a small park with river access. Plus it has a lot of potential for some good birding. This is where I picked up a Pine and Yellow-throated Warbler. With one more stop before home I left Avoca Trailhead Park on my way to Grand Valley. Which turned out to be rather disappointing. If there were any ducks on the lake they were all scared off by the fisherman and children playing. I was able to spot one lone Horned Grebe which I thought was a great find considering.

Notable birds for the day include:

1. Mourning Dove
2. Rock Dove
3. Northern Cardinal
4. Tufted Titmouse
5. Carolina Chickadee
6. Blue Jay
7. White-throated Sparrow
8. White-crowned Sparrow
9. Song Sparrow
10. Savannah Sparrow
11. Field Sparrow
12. Chipping Sparrow
13. House Sparrow
14. House Finch
15. American Goldfinch
16. Common Grackle
17. Common Crow
18. Rusty Blackbird
19. Red-winged Blackbird
20. Canada Goose
21. American Robin
22. American Coot
23. Mallard
24. Wood Duck
25. Blue-winged Teal
26. Great Egret
27. Great Blue Heron
28. Lesser Yellowleg
29. Pectoral Sandpiper
30. Killdeer
31. Bank Swallow
32. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
33. Barn Swallow
34. Tree Swallow
35. Eastern Towhee
36. Louisiana Waterthrush
37. Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler
38. Pine Warbler
39. Downy Woodpecker
40. Red-bellied Woodpecker
41. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
42. Brown-headed Cowbird
43. Carolina Wren
44. Cooper’s Hawk
45. Red-tailed Hawk
46. Turkey Vulture
47. Eastern Meadowlark
48. Horned Grebe
49. Pied-billed Grebe
50. Northern Mockingbird
51. Belted Kingfisher