What a beautiful morning we had today. There was a pale blue sky and a nice,
cool breeze with a bright sun. The deer flies and mosquitoes have now
hatched, but we had no real problem with them today. The weather was just
prefect for a bird walk.

Joining me this Friday morning was Michelle Garcia - Ottawa's wonderful
intern, Sarah Langdon - Mona's awesome full-time employee from Back to the
Wild, and Bonnie McCrady - a lovely retired school teacher from Tampa Bay,
Florida.

Here is what we saw this morning walking around the newly built boardwalk
then out to the marsh and over to the old building and parking lot area.

1. Canada Geese - with lots of goslings. One had only one gosling!
2. Trumpeter Swans - with baby cygnets. SO CUTE!
3. Wood Duck - a pair flew by us.
4. Mallard - saw several today; two were beginning to molt.
5. P.b. Grebe - heard several
6. Great-blue Heron - saw several
7. Great Egret - saw over 40 (36 in one spot counted by Michelle)
8. Green Heron - saw 6 (4 flying together!!)
9. Bald Eagle - one adult soaring by in the blue sky; nice!
10. Cooper's Hawk - ducked into the woods after birds
11. Red-tailed Hawk - saw one immature; heavily barred in the wings and
tail.
12. Sora - heard-up close while seeing the reeds move - no sighting though!
13. C. Moorhen - singing from the cattails.
14. Killdeer - up-close so you could see the red ring around it's eyes.
15. Red-bellied Woodpecker - flew right-over our heads.
16. N. Flicker - heard only
17. Olive-sided Flycatcher - feeding fast through the tops of the trees. Get
those deer flies!
18. Eastern Wood Pewee - saw a male singing from a high-up dead branch while
his mate caught bugs down below from a refuge sign.
19. Acadian Flycatcher - singing deep in the woods; heard only - Peet-ssah!!
20. Eastern Phoebe - seen catching bugs. Please eat the mosquitoes!!
21. Great-crested Flycatchers - heard all over, but couldn't see a one of
them.
22. Eastern Kingbird - seen and calling. Love that black tail dipped in
white paint!
23. Warbling Vireo - heard only one today.
24. Red-eyed Vireo - Bonnie heard one early-on during the walk.
25. Blue jay - only 2 flew over all morning.
26. Tree Swallows - nice looks up-close.
27. Barn Swallows - nesting on the back porch of Ottawa's new center.
28. B.c. Chickadee - heard one.
29. American Robin - the only thrush we could ID today.
30. Gray Catbirds - everywhere and saying their meyew call notes; just like
a cat!
31. Brown Thrasher - saw one flying and heard one. Awesome orange-brown on
top!
32. E. Starling - making a lot of noise from a tree cavity.
33. Cedar Waxwings - saw two small groups fly-over.
34. Yellow Warblers - everywhere, love those little yellow bullets darting
right past you.
35. American Redstart - one female flew-by.
36. Common Yellowthroat - we all got looks at a male.
37. CLAY-COLORED SPARROW - great looks up-close by the gated entrance to the
beginning of the monthly auto tour (near parking lot area of old, brown
visitor center).
38. Field Sparrow - heard one out the back-door of the new visitor center.
39. Song Sparrow - nice looks several times.
40. N. Cardinal - Sarah heard just one!
41. Indigo Buntings - heard several and saw three males. Two were chasing
each other around in the woods. There is a nice population of these at the
Ottawa NWR.
42. Red-winged Blackbirds - one male puffed-up his shoulder feathers so much
that all the red and yellow patches on either side almost touched his face
and head!!! He was really displaying himself right-on the ground. Wish Brian
Z. could have photographed that!!!
43. Common Grackles - boy they have long tails when they fly.
44. Brown-headed Cowbirds - saw several pairs during the walk.
45. Baltimore Orioles - several nice males made their presence known.
46. House Finch - one deep-red male at the feeders in the morning light was
awesome!
47. American Goldfinch - several males were displaying in the air for
females.
48. House Sparrow - only one male at the feeders.

Butterflies seen today

1. GIANT SWALLOWTAIL - awesome looks; our first of the year. Sarah took
photos of it with her cell phone camera.
2. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - one male with the Giant!!!
3. Red-spotted Purple - near the Clay-colored Sparrow on the white gravel
road.
4. Silver-spotted Skippers - they seemed to be everywhere and they were
actually chasing Yellow Warblers around.  One actually chased the Giant
Swallowtail from the snow-white Blackberry flowers just before Sarah took a
close-up photo!
5. Viceroy - we saw our first one of the year today. Mimics the larger
Monarch Butterfly but is not poisonous like the monarch.
6. Pearl Crescent - we had a close-up look of this one today on a Dandelion
flower.

Other critters seen on the bird walk today.
1. Midland Painted Turtles
2. Black Morph Garter Snake
3. Northern Water Snake - a huge female basking on a muskrat mound with a
turtle!
4. Green Frogs- calling all over the place.
5. Bull Frogs - huge one at the boardwalk plus lots calling!
6. N. Leopard Frog - saw a nice green one; midsized.
7. Cottontail Rabbits, E. Fox Squirrel, and White-tailed deer with their
summer orange-brown fur.

Later nature fans,

Christopher J. Knoll

Education Director

Black Swamp Bird Observatory

13551 West State Route 2

Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449

Phone: 419-898-4070

Fax: 419-898-1363




Visit us at:

www.bsbobird.org

www.ohioyoungbirders.org



We are the proud sponsor of the Ohio Young Birders Club.






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