With few free days for a while, I headed down to the Shawnee SF today, April 10, for the first time since the 2nd. The place was figuratively and literally in a freeze since then. I picked up ZERO new birds for the year down there today. All the same birds seen on the 2nd seemed to be there in same the places with no new arrivals whatsoever. The Blue-headed Vireos were all in the same locations as they were on the 2nd. I found the one (and only one) Black-and-white Warbler in the same spot too. By the 10th of April B&W's are usually present in double digits. Yellow-throated Warblers remained in the same scattered locations, and even that early species has yet to really arrive fully. I have early records for many of the residents warblers by this date including a Cerulean on April 9th in 2001. Almost every year there are at least a few Yellow-throated Vireos and Ovenbirds by the 10th. Not this year. In 2004 I had some American Redstarts on the 11th. If that species shows up to
 night, it will find an inhospitable environment!  While on the 2nd the vegetation looked very advanced, it hasn't progressed at all since then, and it looks less colorful. The redbuds that had blossomed earlier this month have shriveled away and no new blossoms have appeared. There doesn't seem to be another warm stretch in the near forecast, but at least night time temperatures should stay above the freezing mark, and new arrivals should hopefully start trickling in this week. Many of the roads in southern part of the forest were closed since ODNR was doing a controlled burn today. I was told that it was some 200+ acres on the ridge above Pond Lick Run. The haze from the smoke was present over the entire forest, including the northern section. This won't go down as one of my favorite visits there. If I had the day to do over again, I would have stayed closer to home and poked around the sparrow-filled fields at Deer Creek.

There was some better birding to be found on the way home. I scoped out 3 areas along Rt. 104 between Portsmouth and Waverly. The same 5 shorebird species were present in vaying ratios at all of them :

Killdeer
G Yellowlegs
L Yellowlegs
Pectoreal Sandpiper
Wilson's Snipe

Between 8-12 Bonaparte's Gulls were also seen at all of those same locations. Flooded fields isn't what I think of as typical habitat for them in Ohio, but it's similar to their breeding ground tundra pools.

The only new bird I picked up for the year was a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW between Charlie's Pond and the Pickaway Co. Airport. This is my earliest record for Grasshopper Sparrow there by at least a couple of weeks. The grasslands in that area are loaded with Savannah Sparrows. Vesper Sparrows are also usually a gimme by April 10, but I still can find one. Other birds seen on the loop included a pair of Northern Harriers, Horned Larks, Am. Pipits, G Yellowlegs, Killdeer, Wilson's Snipe, B-w Teal, and Hooded Mergansers.  A bird that some people on this list-serve might even get more exited about than an early Grasshopper Sparrow was also seen : A MERLIN was seen along Radcliffe Road.

Bob Royse




Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com

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