My mom, Ben and I made it up that way on Monday and it was quite a day! We left home at 5:30am and returned 18 hours later, absolutely exhausted but it was totally worth it! We first went to the boardwalk. In three quick hours, we turned up 53 species of birds, including 11 species of warblers! Most of the warblers were expected, but warbler migration is so exciting because they migrate at night while we're all sleeping. We wake up in the morning, and almost magically, the trees are covered with colorful warblers hopping about, feeding on any insect they can catch. What we don't get to see is the beauty of their actual migration flight. This is possible, however, with Blue Jays! Yesterday was the second time I have been able to witness a big movement of Blue Jays along Lake Erie. They migrate during the day and you can look up and watch, literally a stream of Blue Jays across the sky, nearly all day long!
I know many people don't like Blue Jays. I work in a store where our customers prefer the "small colorful" birds, and while the Blue Jay is one of the most colorful and beautifully patterned birds we have year-round in Ohio, they have somehow made many bird-feeders' "bad bird lists." We get complaints daily about the birds on these lists and often people are looking for solutions to get the birds out of the yard or away from their feeders. While I have to regularly suggest feeding options that exclude their favorite foods, or feeders that are weight sensitive so heavier birds cannot eat, it saddens me that so many miss out on the brilliance of the Blue Jay. Personally, I love having jays in my yard, yes, the smaller birds leave the feeders while the jays are there, but they're never too far away and you can still watch the little ones in the nearby trees. The jays are so smart and seemingly playful. I love to watch them interact with each other and the feeders. It is especially fun to watch them snag a whole peanut in the shell, fly across the yard and cache the nut in a tree for later. If another Blue Jay is nearby and sees where the food was cached, the first jay will re-hide its prize! I have even seen them pretend to cache a nut when another bird was watching. It would pretend to hide it in several locations before finally settling on a secret location to cache the nut. That's pretty cool, if you ask me!
But anyways, seeing multiple and sometimes large flocks of Blue Jays streaming across the sky all day long is really a sight to see! While I get really excited about watching a single species, like the migrating jays or a personal record flock of Willets (see below) the lister in me still wants to see ALL THE BIRDS!! So, as we walked along the boardwalk, I was thrilled to see so many new migrants! White-eyed Vireo, Black-and-white Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Veery, Chimney Swift... my year list total just went up and up as the sun moved higher in the sky. It seemed as though we had just started birding when my stomach started growling and we realized it was lunch time! One of the most exciting birds to find during our morning walk was a Rusty Blackbird. While their populations seem to be decreasing, this spring has been great for seeing Rusty Blackbirds across Ohio. I have been seeing quite a few, nearly every week for a while now, but my mom, however, had never seen one despite her efforts over the past few years.
By the time we left the boardwalk for lunch, I had added 13 new year birds! We had a picnic lunch on the beach and walked the estuary trail before checking the east end of the boardwalk for Fox Snakes. We were unsuccessful finding Fox Snakes but throughout the day we found several Eastern Garter Snakes, a Northern Water Snake, many Painted Turtles including a quarter-sized baby, and a few big Map Turtles! We also saw a few species of frogs, including a Bullfrog, Green Frogs and Leopard Frogs! In addition to the fascinating reptiles and amphibians, we found several types of mammals including an elderly Muskrat, Eastern Cottontails, and some White-tailed Deer.
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| Muskrat |
What a great day, spent with my wonderful family! I even got to see my Bird-mom, Kimberly Kaufman, which is always enough to make any day great! In all, I added 24 year birds during our excursion!
Trip Year Birds:
- House Wren
- American Golden-Plover
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Willet
- Pectoral Sandpiper
- Caspian Tern
- Purple Martin
- Barn Swallow
- Chimney Swift
- White-eyed Vireo
- Blue-headed Vireo
- Warbling Vireo
- Gray Catbird
- Veery
- Orange-crowned Warbler
- Prothonotary Warbler
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Northern Waterthrush
- Nashville Warbler
- Yellow Warbler
- Blue-winged Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- White-crowned Sparrow
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Join me Birding!
The next time I'm in that corner of the state, it will be The Biggest Week in American Birding!! I am so so excited for all the wonderful birds and friends I'll be seeing! This year Ben and I will be leading three of the van field trips! If you'd like to join us, look for open seats on the Monday, May 9 trip to South Bay, the Wednesday, May 11 trip to Catawba/Marblehead, or the Thursday, May 12 trip to Erie County! I will also be heading up the BSBO Woodcock Walk on Monday May 9!! I can't wait and hope to see some of you there!
If you're in the Columbus area, join me this Saturday, April 30 at 9am at Kiwanis Riverway Park, or Saturday May 21 at Highbanks Metropark as part of the Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Hike Series!
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