I spent this morning birding Big Island Wildlife Area in Marion County.  Walking the south dike I flushed or heard 1 AMERICAN BITTERN, 2 VIRGINIA RAILS, and 4 SORA.  Dabbling ducks and shorebirds were numerous, but nearly impossible to count. Flocks were continuously moving across the marsh and dissappearing in vegetation. 6 GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS and 1 Vesper Sparrow were singing in the fields just west of the intersection of LaRue-Prospect Rd and Espyvile Rd.

Some birds observed were:

~300 Blue-winged Teal
~40   Hooded Merganser
~30   Green-winged Teal
XX     Canada Goose
~30   Mallard
~20   Wood Duck
5       American Black Duck
4       Northern Shoveler
3       Northern Pintail
1       Mute Swan

1       Pied-billed Grebe
2       Double-crested Cormorant
1       Northern Harrier
4       Bald Eagle
~45   American Coot

~200 Lesser Yellowlegs
~140 Pectoral Sandpiper
~50   Dunlin
~20   Killdeer
6       Solitary Sandpiper
3       Wilson's Snipe
2       Greater Yellowlegs
2       Spotted Sandpiper
1       Dowitcher sp.

4       Red-headed Woodpecker
7       American Pipit
1       Prothonotary Warbler
1       Nashville Warbler
12     Yellow-rumped Warbler
2       Yellow Warbler
3       Swamp Sparrow
4       Savannah Sparrow
XX     Field Sparrow
XX     Song Sparrow

Ticks are back in full force.

Jack Stenger,
Ohio Wesleyan University
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