Avids Head South for Spring Migrants: 26-27 April, 2002

After a long, not so cold Ohio winter spent sorting through hordes of gulls along Lake Erie, the Avids were eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring migrants. So, for the 26-27 April 2002 trip we journeyed to Shawnee State Forest and Adams County to meet the migrants as they entered the state.

A group of 11 Avids met at the Shawnee State Marina on Friday evening and traveled to Adams County to search for some of the specialties of the area. Our first stop was along an overgrown field where some members of our group had seen Henslow’s sparrows in the past. We struck out on the Henslow’s, but did get great looks at a grasshopper sparrow. We also met an old farmer who warned us about the 600 pound Black Bears in the area. As we continued on, warblers, the birds that everyone was hoping for, were hard to come by. Some prairie warblers singing in the distance along Waggoner-Riffle Road were the highlights for this group. A stop at the area headquarters for the Edge of Appalachia Preserve yielded a trio of vireos—yellow-throated, blue-headed, and white-eyed. As darkness approached, we shifted our efforts from migrant passerines to goatsuckers and owls. Near a scenic dumpsite along Abner Hollow Road,  as many as three whip-poor-wills responded to our tape playing. One bird sang in excess of 50 times before it stopped (yes, one of us actually counted). At another location along the same road, two barred owls serenaded us, and with the help of a flashlight, we were able to get great looks at the birds. Our next stop was at the Beasley Fork Bridge, which crosses Ohio Brush Creek. We took our chances with the aspiring race car drivers of Adams County and walked down to the bridge. Two screech owls (one red morph and one gray morph) made an appearance and a chuck-will’s-widow was heard calling in the distance. After getting to see or hear all the specialty birds of the area, we decided to head back to our rooms in Portsmouth to hit the hay and dream of the warblers that we hoped to see the next day.

At  8:00 a.m. Saturday, the group of Avids that had stayed in Portsmouth the previous night joined with the group that had migrated down from Columbus that morning. In total, 35 Avids in 11 vehicles formed a caravan, the likes of which Shawnee Forest normally only sees during deer hunting season. After greetings and a discussion of the day’s itinerary we loaded up and headed into the forest with binoculars at the ready. The weather was cool and overcast with rain predicted for the evening, but the forest was full of birdsong. All of the resident breeding warblers were on territory and singing lustily.

We were about a week early for the migrating warblers, as we saw only two flocks of migrants all day. One of the flocks was composed of Nashville warblers, Tennessee warblers, and a single golden-winged warbler.  The golden-winged provided some anxious moments for myself and Darlene Sillick as we both needed this bird for our life lists. At first we missed the bird but the flock came back through the area and we were both able to get looks at it. After celebratory handshakes and talk of vanquished nemesis birds, we all moved on with smiles on our faces. At our last stop, the overlook area along Pond Run Road, we found another small flock of migrants that included an orange-crowned warbler. The rain began to fall as we sorted through the flock and since the rain was predicted to last until the following day we decided that it was a good time to end the trip and part ways until the next Avids trip.

All in all I think the trip was very successful. We saw or heard 22 species of warblers and had a trip list of 88 species (below) that included virtually no shorebirds or waterfowl.

Avid Birders trip list 2002_04_26

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