First Great Bird Sighting of 2017

Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens)...we checked in Tom's Birding Field Guide and later, in The Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition.

There was a second Snow Goose with another flock of Canada Geese in another pond.

We have seen huge flocks of Snow Geese in October at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware but these were the first two we have seen at the fish hatchery at St. Mary's.  The geese only pass through Ohio during migration.

We also saw one American Coot (Gallinula galeata).  In a few weeks, we will be seeing big flocks of them.

Weather...It's Winter, It's Almost Spring, It's Winter Again

We had three more inches of snow on February 14.  (7.6 cm)  And here is how Charleston Falls looked on February 15 about 8:30 AM.

The park staff hadn't cleaned off the trail when Jeanne stopped to take a photo.  Abby and Emmy waited patiently.

The maintenance man blew  the snow off the stairs and retreated to his truck.  I don't know if he was going back for a shovel, gravel, or deicer.  Probably all three.  The staff does a good job of keeping the stairs free of ice and snow.  The park was closed on Friday because of the ice and snow.

Here is Octagon Prairie on February 15.  Jeanne, the dogs, and I broke a path through the snow as we walked.

The following Friday, Tom and I took a birding trip to Lake St. Mary's.  The day was mostly sunny but the wind was strong so the temperatures in the 40s F (4.44 C)  felt more like the 20s F (-6.6 C).  The lake was ice covered except around the spillways and the few places where large amounts of water flow into the lake.  In one of these small areas of open water, we saw this Redhead.  Tom took the photo in a moment when the sun was hidden by a big cloud.

As we were driving slowly down the country roads, Tom turned to me,  "I think I just saw a Red-winged Blackbird sitting on that wire with the Starlings."  I didn't see it but I hoped he was right.  Red-winged Blackbirds are usually the first migrants back from the south.  They are in our area for spring, summer, and  fall.  American Robins, which many Ohioans consider the first migrants to return, are  seen in Southwestern Ohio all year around though there are fewer of them during the winter..

The 40s were warm enough for the snow to melt even if we felt cold and by Saturday morning, large areas of fields and lawns were free of snow.  The ice at Charleston Falls had started to melt leaving tall freestanding pillars of ice.

Octagon Prairie was clear of snow but we waded through  water streaming across the trail in a couple low areas.

As we passed a young tree, I heard a bird sing.  It was a Red-winged Blackbird sitting on the topmost branch of the tree.  Jeanne tried to get a bit of video of it as it sang.  But, the sun was so bright that her camera screen was black which made getting a photo impossible.

But...the Red-winged Blackbird males are back.  Spring is on the way even though we have been told to expect  11 degrees (-11.6 C)  for our low temperature tonight.

First Birding Weekend, March of 2013

It's time for the migrants to head north so we decided to look for ducks.  We kept our eyes open for other visitors and recently arrived summer residents also.  I'm not listing all the birds we found, just the ones we found notable for one reason or another.

At Spring Valley on Friday afternoon we saw swans across the lake among the old cattail stems, probably Tundra Swans (Cygnus columbianus).  From there we drove to Eastwood Lake where we saw Lesser Scaups (Aythya affinis),  Ringnecked ducks (Aythya collaris), Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola), and American Coots (Fulica americana).

On Saturday we drove  through the fish hatchery at St. Mary's, then  around the lake and stopped at Mercer County Wildlife area. On that trip, we added a Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)

Monday was rainy but we drove to Englewood Lake and found two addtional species, Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) and Redheads (Aythya americana).  Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) were swooping above the rafts of scaups.  Must be enough insects have emerged for them to find lunch.

The Worst sighting...evidence of the Emerald Ash Tree Borer which has invaded our area.  Ashes are one of the trees that are prevalent throughout many wooded areas of Southwestern Ohio.  We will miss them.  Scientists are working on ways to save the trees but haven't come up with a surefire way, yet.

And the best sighting on Saturday...a male Lesser Scaup and a Canvasback swimming close enough to get a good size comparison.

We saw this groundhog at Eastwood Lake, one of the Dayton Metro Parks on Friday afternoon.  It is the first one we've seen this spring.

The Birds Are Returning

Yesterday was a beautiful day for the last day of February. The sun shone and the temperature reached 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the afternoon. We drove up to Lake St. Mary's, a lake dug out when the canals were put in. That's a story for another day.

Birds are beginning to migrate north through our area. We saw a few American coots, Hooded Mergansers, Lesser scaups, Ruddy ducks, and Gadwalls.  We were hoping to see a Common loon.  The only time we are lucky enough to see them is early in the spring and then only for a short time.

Tom took his favorite field guide.

 

Tom likes this page when we are identifying sparrows.

And I took my favorite field guide.

I like the easy guide to the various types of birds inside the front and back covers.

We had two other books in the van as well.

This one is great because it eliminates all birds except the ones we can expect to find.

The Sibley Guide to Birds is a little larger than a standard guide, too large to carry easily in a pocket but it has detailed desciptions which are a great help when we are in a quandary about what we are seeing.

We haven't given up on seeing a Common Loon this spring so we'll be going out birding again shortly.