Hello!
I just returned from a day long trip to Clear Creek Metro Park in northern
Hocking County where I hiked and birded all of the park trails. In total, I
saw and/or heard 62 species including 17 (maybe 18) warbler species. The
warbler species seen/heard are as follows:
Hooded Warbler (the most numerous warbler species)
Ovenbird (second-most, including 3 or 4 fledglings)
Cerulean Warbler-numerous
Common Yellowthroat-numerous
Black and White Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-Breasted Chat (2 or 3 in E. Creekside area, and 1 in Good Prairie)
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Yellow-Throated Warbler
Pine Warbler (Valley View Picnic Area)
Prairie Warbler (several in area near junction of Chestnut and Cemetery
Ridge trails)
Kentucky Warbler (including parents w/food near nest by spur from Tulip Tree
Trail to the Lake Trail)
Worm-Eating Warbler
Black-Throated Green Warbler
Louisiana Waterthrush (1 in stream along Hemlock Trail)
Blue-winged Warbler (heard 1 in Good Prairie)
GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER (possible)
As I was hiking up to the Thomas Cabin, I distinctly heard the alternate
song of what I believe to be a GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER on the left side of the
trail in some shrubby habitat about waist-high. I have heard that song up close
several times over the past couple of years when observing Golden-Wingeds at
Highbanks and at Magee. It wasn't an alternate song of a Northern Parula
and I don't think it was an alternate of a Blue-Winged Warbler. It stopped
singing when I stopped but I could not visually verify the bird species. I
played the "typical" Golden-Winged song and a bird started flying within the
leaves of trees around me but it never came out in the open so that I could see
it. There was no reaction when I played a Blue-Winged song. Just then, the
winds picked up as a storm front moved into the area and I could not locate
the bird after that. I'm not saying the bird was a Golden-Winged for sure but I
hope others who visit the area try to locate it and verify the species. The
area along the path to the Thomas Cabin where I heard the bird was about 64
paces (of my strides) from the beginning of the trail right where 2 or 3 logs
that were sawed are lying together on the ground.
I tried for a while to locate any Canada Warblers in areas along the Hemlock
Trail where they have nested in past years but I came up empty. At one
point on the Cemetery Ridge Trail, I had a Redstart, Worm-Eating Warbler, and
Kentucky Warbler all in the same bush simultaneously looking at me.
Other birds of note seen/heard included:
ALDER FLYCATCHER-heard then saw 1 off of the E. Creekside trail near where
the trail crosses the main road to the Cemetery Ridge Trail. Also heard
another one singing behind the park office (Starner House).
Veery-3
Wood Thrush-numerous
Scarlet Tanager-numerous
Red-Eyed Vireo-most numerous
White-Eyed Vireo
Yellow-Throated Vireo
Acadian Flycatcher
Eastern Wood Pee Wee
Baltimore Oriole-heard 1
Eastern Phoebe
Brown Thrasher
Indigo Bunting
Tree Swallow
Cedar Waxwing
Eastern Towhee-several including 2 sets of fledglings w/parents
Pileated Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-Throated Hummingbird-1 near Fern parking area
Great-Crested Flycatcher-saw 1 flycatching
Afterwards, since I was close by, I rushed down Rte. 33 ahead of the storm
front to the Brass Ring Golf Course to try to see if any Mississippi Kites
were out and about. I arrived at 7:05 PM and just as I was getting settled, the
winds picked up ahead of the approaching storm front. A few minutes later as
the winds blew harder, I saw the silhouette of a Mississippi Kite with its
long tapered wings and squared tail cavorting in the wind. This lasted about
30 seconds but I couldn't get a better look other than the silhouette because
of the dark lighting from the clouds rolling in. After a few more minutes,
the Kite came back into view and flew fairly close to me such that I could
see the plain pale gray body. As I was trying to look at other features, it
tucked its wings in and banked away from me flying down behind the nearest tree
line. Rain and lightning then came through and once the rain lightened to a
sprinkle and the winds died down, I watched for a Kite for another 30
minutes without seeing one (until 8 PM).
Directions to and information on Clear Creek can be found on the OOS web
site and at _www.metroparks.net_ (http://www.metroparks.net) , whereas Brass
Ring Golf Course is located off of Rte. 328 just south of Logan and west of Rte.
33.
Rob Lowry
Powell, Ohio
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