OHIO-BIRDS Archives

July 2007

OHIO-BIRDS@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Reply To:
Date:
Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:24:19 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (73 lines)
Sorry for the late post.

Jeremiah Roth & I visited a number of areas in search of shorebirds along
the western side of the state Saturday.

Medusa Marsh does not have any mudflat habitat yet, but there were at least
100 Great Egrets in the main impoundment. Also seen was a Black-crowned
Night Heron. 

Our next stop was Metzger Marsh. The extensive mudflats that were there in
May are now overgrown with vegetation. The only water there is concentrated
along the dike, and there
was no mudflat habitat suitable for shorebirds. Highlights included
6 juvenile Bald Eagles along the shore.

A quick visit to Magee Marsh yielded no shorebirds as well. Highlights
included Bobolinks, Marsh Wrens, Swamp Sparrows. 

Our final destination was Pickeral Creek W A. We first stopped at the
impoundment labelled
Area B on Rt 6. The water is drawing down and there was a lot of activity.
Highlights:

Killdeer 
Pectoral Sandpiper - 30
Least Sandpiper - 30 - 50
Semi-palmated SP -1
Lesser Yellowlegs - 40
Greater Yellowlegs - a couple
Short-billed Dowitchers - 100 +
Bald Eagles - 2 
Caspian Terns - 4

The water near the observation deck was even further drawn down, and it
yielded more shorebirds:

Kildeer
Lesser Yellowlegs
Pectoral SP
Spotted SP - Immatures and some much smaller individuals still with downy
feathers, suggesting a second brood

The real highlight at this area though, was the group of about 6 immature
Hooded Mergansers in a feeding frenzy involving crayfish. They were in
shallow water and would come up with crawdads in their bills. They them
commenced to shake their heads back and forth until they subdued the
crayfish. Sometimes they ended up on the shore whilst dining.
It was interesting behavior to see.


Pickeral Creek looks like a good bet  for shorebirds in the coming weeks.


See you on the trails,

Chris Pierce
N. Olmsted, OH


--------------------------------------------------------------------
myhosting.com - Premium Microsoft® Windows® and Linux web and application
hosting - http://link.myhosting.com/myhosting

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]

ATOM RSS1 RSS2