Where We Are Birding – September

Where We Are Birding – September

by | Oct 18, 2021 | OOS Updates, Past News and Events | 0 comments

Each month, our OOS Regional Directors are sharing their favorite birding hotspots in their respective regions – and beyond. These include some well-know destinations, specialty spots for specific species, and their own secret, treasured local patches. Have a favorite birding location? Reach out to your OOS Regional Director and let them know!

Melissa Wales – Southeast Regional Director

Strouds Run State Park – Athens County

The various trail systems at Strouds Run State Park have been good for birding diversity this fall, including breeding and migrant warblers. A recently exciting find by Athens birder Phil Cantino was this Clay-colored Sparrow, spotted along the fencing and scrubby habitat at the northwest end of the Blackhaw Trail. It hung out long enough for some of us to find and enjoy it! The Blackhaw Trail has been black-topped recently, improving accessibility for those with mobility issues. Other park trails circle the lake or head into the ravines and up into the beautiful forested hills surrounding Dow Lake, providing a nice diversity of habitat.

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Jon Cefus – East Central Regional Director

Quail Hollow Park – Stark County
This month, I will be looking for migrants making their way south through Ohio at one of my favorite home county hotspots, Quail Hollow Park in northeastern Stark County.  Quail Hollow offers diverse areas of habitat, but is primarily wooded with a large trail system, including one trail that is accessible for those with mobility challenges.  For more information about Quail Hollow Park, be sure to check out the Birding In Ohio Website for details.
Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Kandace Glanville – Central Regional Director

Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park—Cedar Ridge Hawthorn Trail – Franklin County

Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park—Cedar Ridge Hawthorn Trail is a great place in central Ohio to look for fall migrants in September. Vireos, Warblers, Thrushes, Tanagers and more can be found here as they rest on their journeys south. You can also check out Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park—Darby Plains Wet Prairie Restoration across the road for migrating shorebirds and other marsh-loving species. Battelle Darby has a fantastic nature center with restrooms, and plenty of paved and accessible trails as well.

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info
Where We Are Birding – October

Where We Are Birding – October

by | Oct 18, 2021 | OOS Updates, Past News and Events | 0 comments

Each month, our OOS Regional Directors are sharing their favorite birding hotspots in their respective regions – and beyond. These include some well-know destinations, specialty spots for specific species, and their own secret, treasured local patches. Have a favorite birding location? Reach out to your OOS Regional Director and let them know!

Melissa Wales – Southeast Regional Director

Poston Preserve / Hockhocking Adena Bikeway – Athens County

The 21-mile-long Hockhocking Adena Bikeway in Athens County offers an array of good birding spots. The stretch just south of Nelsonville at Glen Ebon Road (County Road 4) is a particularly good one with parking on either side of the bike path. Heading north or south will take you into tracts of the Poston Nature Preserve. Fall can offer up migrating thrushes and warblers as well as incoming sparrows and kinglets. Keep your eye on the Hocking River on the east side of the bike path for possible ducks.

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Diana Steele – Northeast Regional Director

Carlisle Reservation – Lorain County

Carlisle Reservation is the largest of Lorain County’s metroparks, comprising nearly 2,000 acres. The Equestrian Center offers a variety of edge and wetland habitats as well as a riparian zone along the Black River. A favorite October walk, the Northern Loop Horse trail, encircles a meadow and weaves into the woods along the river. In fall, this edge habitat is great for sparrows of all kinds, including song, white-throated, white-crowned, and Lincoln’s.

An added benefit of walking the trail in October is the ghouls, goblins, and skeletons set up for the drive-through “Halloween Boo-Thru” on October weekend nights. (Note that the park normally closes at sunset and the Boo-Thru is a ticketed, drive-through-only event.)

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Jon Cefus – East Central Regional Director

Salt Fork State Park and Seneca Lake – Guernsey County
This month, I am birding at 2 locations in Guernsey County.  My first stop will be some morning birding at Salt Fork State Park seeking late migrants as they make their way south for the winter.  From there, I will be headed to Seneca Lake to look for waterfowl and gulls.  The northern portion of Seneca is in Guernsey County with the southern area being in Noble County, so be mindful of those county lines!  For more information about birding these locations and more, see the Birding in Ohio website.  Happy birding!
Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Kandace Glanville – Central Regional Director

Walnut Woods Metro Park – Tall Pines Area – Franklin County

Walnut Woods Metro Park – Tall Pines Area in Franklin county is a great place to look for owls in the fall and winter months. Barred Owl, Great Horned Owl, Eastern Screech-owl, Long-eared Owl, and Northern Saw-whet Owl have all been detected at this metro park in the last year! Tricky to find, and even more difficult to see, it often involves a long night hike and a lot of patience in the dark. Give the owls their much-needed space, have patience, and with some luck, you might be able to hear or see them just after dusk – or if you’re extra lucky, find them roosting in the daylight.

In the daylight hours, it’s a lovely park to go for a stroll on the nicely paved path winding through the “tall pines.” 

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info
Where We Are Birding – August

Where We Are Birding – August

by | Aug 16, 2021 | OOS Updates, Past News and Events | 0 comments

Each month, our OOS Regional Directors are sharing their favorite birding hotspots in their respective regions – and beyond. These include some well-know destinations, specialty spots for specific species, and their own secret, treasured local patches. Have a favorite birding location? Reach out to your OOS Regional Director and let them know!

Amy Downing – Northwest Regional Director

Findlay Reservoir – Hancock County
I can’t help but annually mention my favorite find in my hometown at the Findlay Reservoir in Hancock County. This is a large, man-made stopover for many birds, particularly a large variety of shorebirds on their spring and fall migrations.  I’ve had occasional views of Whimbrel and Black-necked Stilts along with regular sightings of Baird’s Sandpipers, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, and Ruddy Turnstones, but my favorite annual  find is easily the Buff-breasted Sandpipers. Aside from the long walk to the middle dike at first or last light of day this is the best viewing and photography opportunity of this species in the state. There is accessible parking at the top of both boat ramps and all paths are groomed blacktop or stone paths accessible to most wheeled needs. 
My favorite Buffy’s are coming soon, and  Hancock County’s dry field conditions are ripe for them to navigate to the Findlay Reservoir!
Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Melissa Wales – Southeast Regional Director

West State St. Park – Athens County

As shorebird migration ramps up, those of us in heavily forested Athens County/SE Ohio sometimes struggle to find good habitat based on rainfall. Recently, birders here were surprised to find a small, post-storm, flooded puddle near the Ohio University putting green in the W. State St. park with up to six Least Sandpipers at one point poking around in the mud, along with some Killdeer. A good reminder that migrating birds find habitat wherever they can, and to keep our eyes on puddles and flooded fields for shorebirds right now!

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Diana Steele – Northeast Regional Director

Lakeview Park – Cuyahoga County

August and September are great months to wander through Lakeview Park in Lorain as part of a Lake Erie hotspot tour. While no one day guarantees a particular mix of species, you never know what might turn up there.

On the beach, you might encounter a variety of shorebirds, including Sanderling, Dunlin, Ruddy Turnstone, sandpipers or plovers. The trees above the beach shelter smaller migratory birds like warblers and vireos, while in and over the lake you can spot ducks, mergansers, and a wide variety of gulls and terns. Peregrine falcons make regular forays into the gull population.

If the birds are scarce you can enjoy the late-blooming roses or dip your toes in the warm late-summer water.

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Jon Cefus – East Central Regional Director

Wilderness Road – Wayne County
This month, I am searching for shorebirds at one of the best spots in East Central Ohio, Wilderness Road in Wayne County.  Wilderness Road is a small road running east to west along mostly private property south of Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area.  In the past, water was drawn down in order to mine peat, but that operation ceased a few years ago, so searching for shorebirds is a bit more difficult, however there are still many birds that show up each year and as water levels go down naturally there is ample opportunity to observe shorebirds in their southern migration of thousands of miles.  A scope is typically essential to bird this area.  For more details on how to check various spots along Wilderness Road, see the Birding in Ohio webpage.
Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Tyler Ficker – Southwest Regional Director

Mercer Wildlife Area – Mercer County 

Mercer Wildlife Area in Mercer County is an excellent location for migrating shorebirds and wading birds in August! Most of the shorebird species that pass through Ohio show up in this area at some point throughout the season. You never know what might drop in there!

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info
Plover Patrol Effervescence

Plover Patrol Effervescence

by | Jul 14, 2021 | Conservation, OOS Updates, Past News and Events | 0 comments

OOS Northeast Regional Director, Diana Steele, monitors newly banded piping plover chicks

during a volunteer shift 7/15. “PIPL HQ” is visible in the background. Photo by Mandy Roberts.

A July 10 New York Times article, “There’s a Specific Kind of Joy We’ve Been Missing,” finally put a name to the nearly inexplicable joie de vivre that I’ve been feeling lately: “collective effervescence.” As writer Adam Grant explains, “peak happiness lies mostly in collective activity.” During the pandemic, the synchrony we feel when we come together to share a purpose, dance in rhythm, or laugh with strangers, was nearly entirely absent from our lives. I couldn’t name it, but felt the lack of connection deeply.

The opportunity for the birding community of northern Ohio to unite together around a common purpose arose suddenly and without premonition. Coinciding with the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in Ohio in early June, a pair of piping plovers began nesting on Ohio’s North Coast for the first time in more than eight decades. Few people alive today remember the last time a piping plover family successfully raised chicks in Ohio. Undeterred by this history, a pair of plovers set up housekeeping at Maumee Beach State Park in late May, and on June 1, laid their first egg on the inland beach.

Piping Plover at Maumee Bay State Park – Photo provided by Luke Chapman

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and Black Swamp Bird Observatory sprang into action to cordon off a protected area and train and muster an army of volunteers, dubbed the “Plover Patrol.” A disused concession stand became “PIPL HQ.”

As a writer who deliberately keeps a light schedule in order to be flexible for just such opportunities as this, I dove in to plover monitoring at full speed. I was prepared to be delighted by the tiny plovers as they ran up and down the beach, and even imagined what it might be like to watch the antics of the chicks—who when they are first hatch look like toasted marshmallows running around on pretzel sticks.

The famous Piping Plover chicks – Photos provided by Mandy Roberts and Mark Hainen

But I wasn’t prepared for the “collective effervescence” that arose among the Plover Patrol as we—many of us previously strangers to each other—came together around the common purpose of keeping the plovers safe and monitoring their behavior.

It may seem silly, but I was nearly moved to tears by the calm professionalism of my new friends as we learned the ropes of scientific note-taking and walkie-talkie operation together, joyfully brainstorming and problem-solving on the fly. With the pandemic easing and fears of contagion waning, sliding into this shared rhythm was not just joyous but breathtaking.

Giggling together over the chick that could never seem to get under the parent to brood, or bounced off in a back flip, grew into giddy hysterical laughter. Each morning checking in to the Facebook group to learn the 6 a.m. plover count became a shared ritual. And there were hugs, lots of hugs.

The innumerable volunteers keep track of the eight daily two-hour shifts on a shared Google doc. As the hatch date approached and after all four chicks successfully emerged on July 1, the number of volunteers on each shift kept doubling from two, to four, and then eight. One magnanimous soul, Jack Burris, took over the monumental task of coordinating all of the others, freeing BSBO staff to concentrate on the jobs they already had. Beyond that, the collective is self-organized on each shift.

Diana Steele, Mandy Roberts, and Karen Zach monitoring the Piping Plover family

If at least two of these chicks fledge, they will increase the average over the number needed to sustain this critically endangered population. If three or four fledge, our little plovers will have succeeded beyond expectation and play a role in potentially expanding the population beyond the current estimated 75 breeding pairs, numbering barely 200 birds throughout all of the Great Lakes.

Even if this pair never returns to Ohio—but of course, I hope they will—this collective joy has lifted the pandemic gloom from all of our hearts. As Grant writes, “You can feel depressed and anxious alone, but it’s rare to laugh alone or love alone. Joy shared is joy sustained.”

Where We Are Birding – July

Where We Are Birding – July

by | Jul 11, 2021 | OOS Updates, Past News and Events | 0 comments

Each month, our OOS Regional Directors are sharing their favorite birding hotspots in their respective regions – and beyond. These include some well-know destinations, specialty spots for specific species, and their own secret, treasured local patches. Have a favorite birding location? Reach out to your OOS Regional Director and let them know!

Melissa Wales – Southeast Regional Director

Infirmary Road – Vinton County

July brought me back to Infirmary Road, which is in Vinton County just west of the town of Zaleski. It’s a gravel road that goes through hilly, high grasslands and is a great spot for Short-eared Owls in the winter that some members of OOS ventured out to enjoy. I went there this month looking for grassland species and it did not disappoint! I saw Bobolink, Dickcissel, Grasshopper Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak, Eastern Meadowlark and I heard the cricket chirps of Henslow’s Sparrow. This spot makes for good car birding in the hot weather as the road gets very little traffic and there are pull offs in front of gates. Just be mindful of the farmers and don’t block traffic or road access to fields. Passersby seem not to mind birders being there.

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Amy Downing – Northwest Regional Director

Springville Marsh – Hancock County

As one of the largest inland wetlands in Ohio this 200 acre marsh is wonderful in all seasons, but in summer it’s spectacular.

Summer specialties include Flycatchers, Marsh Wrens, Swamp Sparrows, Sora and Virginia Rail. With patience and lots of bug spray one can hear and photograph the Swamp Sparrows within a few feet of the winding boardwalk. For the slower birding hours you may also enjoy a wide variety of native wildflowers drawing countless bees, butterflies, dragonflies, moths, and other important pollinators. 

Although there is a winding boardwalk throughout the wetland it does not have side rails so caution and birding partners are recommended for those on wheels. The paved parking lot provides excellent birding and other nature enjoyment for those not venturing far.

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Jon Cefus – East Central Regional Director

Kokosing River – Knox County
This month, I will be birding at Fry Family Park in southern Stark County.  Fry Park was a private residence and farm that has been converted into grassland habitat and has in recent years played host to nesting species that include Grasshopper and Henslow’s Sparrows, Bobolinks, Yellow-breasted Chats, and Prairie Warbler.  For more information, see the Birding in Ohio Website.

 

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Tyler Ficker – Southwest Regional Director

Gilmore Ponds Metropark – Butler County

Gilmore Ponds Metropark (Butler County) in July is full of herons and egrets! The rookeries there allow for large numbers of Great Egrets, Green Herons, Great Blue Herons, Double-crested Cormorants, a few Black-crowned Night-Herons and recently, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron has visited every summer!

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info
Where We Are Birding – June

Where We Are Birding – June

by | Jun 13, 2021 | OOS Updates, Past News and Events | 0 comments

Each month, our OOS Regional Directors are sharing their favorite birding hotspots in their respective regions – and beyond. These include some well-know destinations, specialty spots for specific species, and their own secret, treasured local patches. Have a favorite birding location? Reach out to your OOS Regional Director and let them know!

Melissa Wales – Southeast Regional Director

Moonville Ridge Trail – Vinton County

The Moonville Rail Trail can be accessed from the Hope School House on Wheelabout Road in Zaleski State Forest near Lake Hope State Park. Walking south along the Raccoon Creek, you will pass a heronry off to the east as well as 42 Prothonotary Warbler nesting boxes all along this portion of the trail (16 monitored active nests confirmed as of this writing). This trail is excellent for many SE Ohio breeding warblers (Hooded, Cerulean, Ovenbird, Northern Parula, American Redstart), Red-headed Woodpecker, and Great Crested Flycatcher. There is also an active Bald Eagle nest with one eaglet currently that is easily observable from the trail.

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Amy Downing – Northwest Regional Director

Maumee Bay State Park

Who in our Ohio Birding family hasn’t at least heard of Maumee Bay State Park and its very birdy beach and boardwalk? Not too many! Of course I had to go see our famous Nellie and Nish, the nesting Piping Plover pair this past week and will definitely return closer to hatch time end of June. But some other great sightings in June history have been Semi-palmated Plovers,Ruddy Turnstones, American Avocets, and my 2017 photo, the Red Knot. This is definitely a scenic beach visit with rocky stretches and room to search for brief sightings of rare birds. Take a cooler stroll through the marshy boardwalk and the visitors center. Much of the property has access by smooth blacktop and sidewalks for those with special mobility needs.

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Jon Cefus – East Central Regional Director

Fry Family Park – Stark County
This month, I will be birding at Fry Family Park in southern Stark County.  Fry Park was a private residence and farm that has been converted into grassland habitat and has in recent years played host to nesting species that include Grasshopper and Henslow’s Sparrows, Bobolinks, Yellow-breasted Chats, and Prairie Warbler.  For more information, see the Birding in Ohio Website.

 

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Tyler Ficker – Southwest Regional Director

Edge of Appalachia Preserve – Adams County

The early summers at Edge of Appalachia Preserve in Adams County are some of the most birdy and peaceful mornings I’ve experienced. The hike up the Buzzard’s Roost Rock trail allows for prairie and deep woods that provide homes for Blue Grosbeak, Prairie, Kentucky, Cerulean, Worm-eating, and Hooded Warblers! At night, you may even be fortunate enough to hear a Chuck-wills-widow singing with the chorus of Whip-poor-wills!

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info

Kandace Glanville – Central Regional Director

Deer Creek Wildlife Area – Fayette County

Deer Creek Wildlife Area in Fayette county is an incredible grassland summer oasis where you can find some of the trickier Ohio breeding birds like Dickcissel, Blue Grosbeak, Bobolink, Grasshopper Sparrow, Yellow-breasted Chat and Bell’s Vireo. Deer Creek WA is a huge place with plenty of opportunities for exploring and birding!

Birding-in-Ohio Hotspot Info