From Donna Kuhn: Seventeen Avid birders braved a drizzly morning to meet at 5:30AM at the Scioto Downs Racino to head for Lake Hope State Park and Zaleski State Forest. Off we went to the Logan McDonalds, where we picked up a few more participants.
Two participants took a road less traveled to relocate the Neotropic Cormorant, which had been reported the evening before.
They texted their success. A poll was taken at McDonalds, (it is election season after all) and the overwhelming victory went to the Cormorant. We headed to Lake Logan while James and Kori staked out the bird.
This bird breeds along the Texas/Mexico border and is rare in Ohio. It is smaller and has a longer tail than the far more common Double Crested Cormorant. The bird was on a log about 40 feet from the shore, allowing all to get good looks. Nice first bird of the trip!
Next stop was the Nature Center at Lake Hope State Park, where our participants increased to 24. The birders waiting for us there, forgave our “emergency” birding stop for the cormorant, as they were already birding. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird was seen in a tree by the Nature Center. We were able to call in a Hooded Warbler. Three Northern Parulas provided good looks, along with singing American Redstarts at the bottom of the road to the Nature Center
Next stop was the Moonville Tunnel trail, famous for the ghost of a railroad brakeman who died there after falling off the train
and being run over by the moving train. We did not see the ghost, but we did see an Orchard Oriole and a surprisingly cooperative White-eyed Vireo or two.
Our caravan headed for the Hope Schoolhouse area, where the bushy fields yielded Yellow-breasted Chats and Prairie Warblers. A Broad-winged Hawk and a Black Vulture soared over on thermals. By this time it was sunny and warm!
We stopped at the Hunter’s Camp where a Prairie Warbler and a
Hooded Warbler allowed lots of photos from about 20 feet away at eye level.
The trees were alive with Pine Warblers and Chipping Sparrows.
After lunch on the mountain-top camp, the self-proclaimed “Not So Avid Birders” decided to head for home while the remaining birders split into 2 groups. One of these continued to the Hope Baptist Church and Iron Furnace where they added a Swamp Sparrow to our trip list while 8 others headed to Holmes county for the long staying vagrant Black-throated Gray Warbler.
We located the warbler after an hour long search. We were unable to locate the Snowy Owl reported a few days earlier. We stopped for a sit down dinner (an Avid first!) at an Amish restaurant in Millersport. After a successful day in the field, we returned to Columbus at 11 PM.
The list for the trip was 79 species, with 16 warblers:
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Pied-bill Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Broad-winged Hawk
Red Shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Solitary Sandpiper
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Barred Owl
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Ovenbird
Blue-winged Warbler
Black-and- white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush
Prairie Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Yellow-breasted Chat
Northern Cardinal
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch