The last day of April found the Avid Birders on their annual pilgrimage to Shawnee State Forest. Always one of our most popular trips, this one seems to have the proverbial charmed life: threatening weather rarely stops us or even slows us down much, and the birds always seem to come through in this beautiful part of Ohio.
Despite the forecast for near-constant rain, nearly twenty Avids assembled in the Shawnee State Park Marina/Golf Course parking lot at 8:00 am. (Those driving from Columbus that morning had left at the usual 5:30 start time; those already staying in the area got a little extra sleep.) Cloudy skies indicated that the rains eventually would arrive, so we headed for birding hot spots quickly.
Warblers, our main targets for this trip, were everywhere, along with a full complement of vireos, thrushes, and other springtime specialties. Our long-time Shawnee leader, Brad Sparks, had scouted the area the previous day: in addition to the expected resident species and local nesters, he had noticed an unusual mix of migrant species that rarely stop in southern Ohio. But this year, stop they did, providing us nice looks at locally uncommon species such as Cape May Warblers. Of course, we also found plenty of the expected species such as Hooded and Kentucky Warblers. Many of these birds, while singing lustily, played hard to get visually, but almost everyone managed to see every bird eventually.
For this report, we won’t attempt a complete list of all of our turns and stops; suffice it to say that we cruised forest roads making frequent stops but remaining within a remarkably small area. There are plenty of birds everywhere in the forest! One amusing highlight, though: cresting a ridge with a small patch of grass near the road, we spotted a Woodcock bobbing — and Brad reported that what was likely the same bird had been in this same area of less than an acre the day before!
On the non-avian front, sunny skies and pleasant temperatures on Friday had produced a butterfly bonanza, but the clouds and chill on this day meant that we saw only a few lepidoptera. Amphibians and reptiles are common in these parts, too, but again the weather kept most of them hiding under rocks and leaves, invisible to us. Wildflowers were abundant, though, providing a lovely backdrop for our birding.
After the main Shawnee exploration was complete, several of the more avid member of our group birded their way back to Columbus, adding to our day list by stopping at Charlie’s Pond and Sharon Woods. That list reached a very good 94 species, including an amazing 27 species of warblers!
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Canada Goose
Mallard
Red-breasted Merganser
Wild Turkey
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Cooper’s Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Virginia Rail
American Coot
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
American Woodcock
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Swainson’s Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Ovenbird
Worm-eating Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush
Blue-winged Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
American Redstart
Cape May Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Chipping Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Eastern Meadowlark
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow