Birds of Mohican State Park

Last Monday, I led the Birds of Mohican field trip for Columbus Audubon. The 5,635 acres of Mohican State Park and Mohican State Forest are the nesting grounds for nearly 20 species of warblers, and several other more northern nesters like Winter Wren, Hermit Thrush, and Blue-headed Vireo.

We arrived at Mohican's Covered Bridge around 8 AM and immediately started hearing several of our target birds: Cerulean Warbler and Louisiana Waterthrush! It was a beautiful cool spring morning as we started off along the river. It wasn't long before we heard a Canada Warbler. We waited around and got a few brief glimpses, but he wasn't very cooperative. We decided to move on as we heard several Cerulean Warblers and Veerys singing all around us! Before long, we spotted a Louisana Waterthrush along the river bank. As we watched it bobbing its tail and fee ding, we heard a Hooded Warbler. We looked up to see him perched right out in the open about 15 feet above the trail! We all had incredible looks at this gorgeous male warbler as he sang and sang to attract a mate and let others know that the territory was occupied. It wasn't long into our walk when road construction drowned out the bird songs and literally blocked our path so we turned around and opted to hike the trail to Lyons Falls.

Scanning the river for birds, trout, and softshell turtles

The trail to Lyons Falls is stunning, ascending along the bank of the river and winding into the forest. As if the hike alone isn't worth it, the birds really treated us well. Throughout the hike we had great comparison views of Acadian Flycatchers, Eastern Wood-Pewees, and Eastern Phoebes. We watched the interactions between a pair of Cerulean Warblers, and spotted a beautiful Yellow-throated Warbler high in an American Sycamore tree.

The trail to Lyons Falls

As we moved along the stream running from the falls, a Louisiana Waterthrush sang as we flipped some rocks to discover a variety of beautiful salamanders including an adult and two juvenile Northern Spring Salamanders, several Two-lined Salamanders, and several Dusky Salamanders, including a couple in their larval state!

Northern Two-lined Salamander 

Northern Spring Salamander

Lyons Falls

After admiring Lyons Falls and the sandstone structure, we hiked back down the trail and had even more spectacular bird encounters. At one point, we spotted a Veery and a Gray-cheeked Thrush in the trail ahead. As everyone tried to get on the birds, they flew off. As we approached slowly, the Veery was sitting just off trail. We watched it at eye-level just 10 feet off the trail as it softly whispered its song and did its "veer" call. I had spent a while enjoying the Veery when something caught my eye on the opposite side of the trail. Right in front of us was a gorgeous Blue-headed Vireo. Just as close and low to the ground as the Veery! We lucked out with more up-close looks at an incredible bird.

A view of the Sandstone cliffs at Mohican State Park

As we finished our hike back at the covered bridge, a few of us decided to hit the restrooms before we headed out for our picnic lunch. On the way, we spotted a Yellow-billed Cuckoo just off the path... a life bird for some and great views for all! We decided to have lunch at the Discovery Forest to get away from the road construction noise at the covered bridge. It was nice that we did because we were able to add Ovenbird and Blackburnian Warbler to our trip list. We also got to share the lunch space with three baby Eastern Phoebes whose nest was built in the picnic shelter!

Eastern Phoebe nestlings

In all, it was a wonderful trip! I hope you'll have an opportunity to visit this incredible Ohio park.

View our species checklist, by clicking here.

Exploring the stream
Photo by Sheila M. Fagan.