My wife always gets amused at the routes I take as somehow birding is stuck in with the easiest tasks. Tonight the objective was to go to Lynd's just off the new SR 161 in Licking County to get some peaches. The route meandered along Central College Road, Duncan's Run Road, Goursh Road, Beech Road, County Line Road, Robins Road and a few others. I think it doubled the miles to and from Lynd's. Linda didn't complain as the trip for peaches got us several Wild Turkey hens with their poults, Indigo Buntings, Horned Larks, Eastern Kingbirds, Eastern Meadowlarks, and Great Blue Herons heading into their rookery.

Coming home we made a quick stop at Wiese Road in The Hoover Nature Preserve (Galena). We were greeted by a singing Prothonotary Warbler almost as soon as we left the car. Several of his cohorts serenaded us further along the road. Other birds included a male Indigo Bunting feeding a small fledgling, Eastern Kingbirds, Carolina and House Wrens, Baltimore Orioles, Double-crested Cormorants, Osprey, Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Northern Flickers being harassed by their large fledglings for food, Tree Swallows with fledglings, Cliff Swallows, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers carrying food, and Gray Catbirds everywhere.

If you haven't been to Wiese Road lately you will discover PINK RIBBONS along the road where a portion of the Ohio to Erie Bike Trail will go through the preserve. The Prothonotary Warbler territory marker ribbons are ORANGE, although the recent rain has caused the flora to grow like crazy and many of the ribbons have been swallowed into the greenery. Hopefully the habitat will not be damaged too much by the bike path, but the individuals doing the engineering and I have chatted and they are trying to minimize damage to the habitat.

We did manage to remember to get the peaches. I'll have to check this route out further for the OBBA II.

Charlie Bombaci

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