With not enough time to drive to the Hocking Hills, I opted for the north end of Alum Lake State Park this morning.  The area from State 37 north forms a forested corridor wide enough to attract an unusual concentration of nesting forest birds for central Ohio (where most forests of this size were long ago 'pruned by the plow').  The State park has several wonderful forest tracks linked along a bridle trail, with evocative names like Winterhawk Grove, Maple Glen, and Hunter's Hollow, and I spent about an hour in each of the latter two sites.   Unfortunately, the area has no real bottlenecks or concentration points for migrants, so I stopped briefly at Alum Point later in the morning.  Highlights included

Raptors - an adult Red-shouldered was hunting, appropriately enough, at Hunter's Hollow.  While I suspect nesting of this species here, the forest was too dense to follow him/her easily.  I also had Turkey Vultures doing aerial displays at ALum POint, so they may nest nearby.

Cuckoos - none of either species, despite spending several hours in good habitat where they've been common in past years.  Perhaps its a bit early to look for nesters this delayed year.

Flycatchers - good variety, with lots of likely nesters already on territory.  Maple Glen, which is a series of small ravines southwest of the Howard Rd. bridge, had 9-10 calling Acadians, and several Pewees, while 4-5 more Acadians, and a Great Crested pair were at Hunter's Hollow.  The shrubby fields of Alum Point had several Willow flycatchers that were giving sharp 'whit' calls rathe than their territorial 'song'.  E.Kingbirds & Phoebes were also at several spots.

Vireos - many Red-eyed Vireos at every stop.  Yellow-throated were at several locations at Maple Glen & Hunter's Hollow, while several White-eyed were already paired up at ALum Point.

Wrens,Gnatcatcher, Kinglet - House Wrens abundant.   Gnatcatchers' nests at several places.  How do they survive with such easy-to-find nests?  Another laggard Ruby-cr.Kinglet was found, this one at Hunter's Hollow.

Thrushes - plenty of singing Wood Thrushes at Maple Glen (6) & Hunter's Hollow (5), along with calling Swainson's (7-8, 6+) and Veeries (2 at Hunter's Hollow, which would make ideal nesting habitat).

Warblers - no large numbers, but diversity was good, with 20 spp:  Blue-winged (1 sing at ALum Pt.), Nashville (2 at Alum Pt), Tennessee, Yellows (abundant at Alum Pt), Chesnut-sided (most common at all other spots), Magnolia, Blackburnian (2), Cerulean ( 2 singing on territories at Maple Glen, a reliable nesting site), Bl.-thr.Blue (2 males singing at Hunter's Hollow), Bl.thr.Green (4+), Bay-breasted, Palm, Black&White,  Amer.Redstart (7+), Ovenbirds (6+ including 4 singing at Hunter's Hollow, a likely nesting spot), La. Waterthrush (territorial birds at Maple Glen & Hunter's Hollow), N.Waterthrush (1 Alum Pt.), Com.Yellowthroat (Howard Rd, and Alum Pt), Hooded (nest-building pair at Hunter's Hollow), Canada (1 Maple Glen)

Tanagers - singing Scarlets at many places, but no Summers, although I did not visit the drier oak-dominated ridges down at Alum Bluffs (at St.37) that they favor.

Grosbeaks, Buntings - surprisingly few singing Rose-br.Grosbeaks (only 2), but plenty of singing Indigo Buntings (10+ at Alum Point alone)

Sparrows - lots of territorial Chipping, Field, Song, but migrant Lincoln's(1) and White-throats (3) at Alum Point

The area makes for a great hike, and if you have time you can hike the trail all the way from Alum Point (south of St. 37) all the way north to Hogback Rd, a distance of 5 miles, and can even loop back down the east side for another 4 miles.   Habitats vary from small ponds and marshy meadows to succesional fields of all stages and mature woods, with the best woodlands at Maple Glen and Hunter's Hollow.  This is a bridle trail, however, which means that some of the softer areas have been turned into mire by horse-hooves, so wear mud-proof shoes.


Rob Thorn
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EarthLink Revolves Around You.

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