Yesterday afternoon at about 2:30 pm, I arrived at the pond east of TR80
(south of 113 (County Line Road) and north of C34) near Bellevue.  At
first I could not find a Black-necked Stilt (BNST).  However, eventually
I found one feeding to the east of the main close pond, quite a distance
away.  Then there were 4!  They had been feeding in a low area out of
sight behind a small rise.  For several minutes there were four
Black-necked Stilts in sight flying around and over the main pond.  It
is an unusual event to see 4 Black-necked Stilts together at one time in
Ohio!  The four BNSTs flew in from behind the main close pond, and
landed in the south part of the main pond near the woods.  However, as
soon as I got my telescope set up and my camera to do some digiscoping,
they took wing again and flew back to the out of sight location.
However, eventually I found that one bird stayed on the far side of the
main pond near the edge on the far side, and I managed some distant
digiscope shots.  This bird was apparently a female with a brown back
(mantle).  None of the birds had pale fringes on back and wing feathers,
which is indicative of an immature BNST.  Also, present were Blue-winged
Teal, one Common Moohen, two American Coot, and about six ruddy Ducks as
well as the usual Mallards, Canada Geese and great Blue Herons.  I also
checked out the pond on C34 south and west of the TR80 pond location and
the flooded area near the railroad track on TR292.  There are many Great
Egrets in the area in these ponds, but I did not find any birds of
special note other than the BNSTs.  

 

I headed west to try for the Clay-colored Sparrow at Oak Openings
Preserve Metropark.  I arrived at the thinned pine stand on Monclova
Road west of Wilkins Road between 5:00 and 5:30 pm.  I did not find the
Clay-colored Sparrow after staying in the area until about 7:30 pm.  For
details about this location, check rarebird.org.

Jay

 

Jay G. Lehman

Cincinnati, OH

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