Today I enjoyed the company of Skip and Bonnie Decker as we checked activity in parts of Hardin, Wyandot and Marion Counties. The weather had been predicted to be iffy, but the rain that did fall came while we enjoyed lunch which proved to be very good timing.



Skip and Bonnie are fairly new birders and still have many wonderful experiences awaiting them. I was able to add to their life lists with several enjoyable species. We began in Hardin County where our official greeters were two male Dickcissels that posed and sang for us along T50 near County Line Road, T215. We then stopped at the culvert along T50 and got out the spotting scope to search for cooperative grassland species. The numbers have gone down considerably during the last two weeks, likely because of fledged young and cool temperatures. The birds were staying down around us but we could hear them calling. With patience we waited and were rewarded with nice views of Bobolinks, Dickcissels, Eastern Meadowlarks, Grasshopper Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows and a few Vesper Sparrows. As we left to move to a new location we encountered two vividly colored Red-headed Woodpeckers at the edge of a wooded area, then we located some Horned Larks working the fields beside the road.



At Killdeer Plains we located the first two Bald Eagles for the day, Brown Thrashers, Eastern Kingbirds, Cedar waxwings, Savannah Sparrows, Indigo Buntings and a Killdeer with its young. We stopped to watch and got an Oscar worthy broken wing display. Things were fairly sedate at Killdeer Plains as the maintenance staff were mowing, a likely reason for it the lack of obvious activity. This was made up for when we watched a Red-tailed Hawk hit the ground talons first, do some slice and dicing with its beak and then lift off with a rather good sized snake dangling from the talons.



At Big Island Wildlife Area we located two more Bald Eagles along Route 95 that sat to have their picture taken. At the Prospect-LaRue Road ponds we located Hooded Mergansers, Wood Ducks, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Egret, Eastern Kingbirds, Savannah Sparrows and Indigo buntings.



The water level at both Big Island and Killdeer Plains remain high with little decent shorebird habitat.



Charlie Bombaci

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