Julie Karlson, Brian Menker, and I did a restricted Big Day today around
the Buck Creek State Park area in Clark County near Springfield (Delorme
66A2-3). We started at a little after 5:00 AM and finished up just
before 8:00 PM with 112 species. Below are some of the highlights.

American Bittern - We were checking out the cattails at the very north
end of the lake and flushed one.

Great Egret - Three were seen at the north end of the lake.

Virginia Rail - A little marsh has formed below the spillway of the lake
off Overlook Drive which is just off Croft Road. Since 3/31 we have been
hearing this rail but haven't seen one yet. Brian thinks he heard 3 of
them calling earlier this week.

Black-bellied Plover - One was seen late in the evening on the beach.

Laughing Gull - We found two breeding plumaged birds on the beach late
in the evening. We watched them fly off so I don't know if they will be
seen again.

Black Tern - We watched two flying far out over the lake at around 10:00
AM and again in the evening.

Olive-sided Flycatcher - We found one this morning at about 7:00 AM west
of the spillway along the road up to the historic Crabill House. This
evening at a little after 6:00 PM it was still in the same area perching
in the top of a sycamore tree doing its flycatching.

Willow Flycatcher - We found one along Buck Creek below the dam.

Golden-winged Warbler - We found one west of Baldwin Lane along the
railroad tracks at about noon. We also found a Blue-winged Warbler in
the same area. About 45 minutes later as we walked back to our car we
saw a Golden-winged x Blue-winged hybrid. It looked very much like a
Blue-winged Warbler but it had yellow wingbars instead of white
wingbars.

We ended up with 19 warbler species for the day. The most common species
were Yellow-rumped, Yellow, Palm, and Nashville Warblers.

Doug Overacker
Springfield, Ohio

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