I continue to marvel at the efforts of various OBBA2 participants, and I promise to compile my somewhat meager data and send it in. I'm afraid my sightings and hearings have not been particularly systematic or intensive, but I have seen or heard some interesting birds in the past nine days at home on Flint Ridge (Hopewell Township, Muskingum County.) Next Monday I return to work in southern California.
Perhaps the most startling bird moment was yesterday. I am constructing a small cabin/guest house in the ravine behind the house, a ravine that is graced by the presence of a spring, a spring that has been gushing due to the wet late spring/early summer. I admit that I have never spent a lot of time in this ravine. It usually falls at the end of my hikes around the property and I am thus anxious to get up the hill and home. With an "improvement" back there perhaps I will pay more attention to it. It is so close. Yesterday, mid-day, around 1:00 PM a Louisiana waterthrush was singing near the spring. This completely blew me away! The ravine is lush and forested, with ample running water, but I rarely hear any waterthrushes after mid-May. It's sure nice to know they (or he) are still around: one of my very favorite birds and songs.
Other warblers still in song on the property this July have been common yellowthroat and an occasional hooded.
Notable species seen or mostly heard during the construction in the ravine have included scarlet tanagers and Baltimore orioles - always nice. I have always known this location to be a spot for catbirds, towhees, and Carolina wrens. A pair of Carolina wrens has moved up the ravine and into the building we call the garage (because of its size) this year. Last week I was looking for a tool in that building when both wrens appeared at the always-open door carrying insects for the young. Pretty cute. They also loudly provide a natural alarm clock every dawn, since this nest is probably less that twenty feet from our bedroom window.
The big mulberry just across the road from our driveway is hosting a who's who of local species. One could probably pick up thirty species or more just by watching that tree, if one had the time.
Oh well, back to work...
Bob Evans
Geologist, etc.
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County
Delorme 70 A1 (classic editions)
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