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September 2009

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Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:07:57 -0400
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I checked out Oxbow Road this morning for migrants and the water level for cleaning my nest boxes. The water has receded slightly exposing a narrow band of shoreline. Most of the activity consisted of Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and a few Green Herons. The only shorebirds seen were a few Killdeer and one Spotted Sandpiper. The water off Oxbow Road had Caspian Terns, Double Crested Cormorants, Mallards and Wood Ducks. The hot spot was Oxbow Island at the end of the road. The dense foliage prevented me from identifying numerous warblers but I did compile a nice list at this migrant trap. Warblers observed included Golden-winged (1), Tennessee (4), Nashville (2), Chestnut-sided (3), Magnolia (1), Yellow-throated (1), Black-and-White (2), and Worm-eating (2). 



I next made a quick visit to Mud Hen Marsh. Activity was slow for both the number of species and the number of birds. Gray Catbirds and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were the best to be found, not an exciting list to write home about. I did however run into an enormous snapping turtle crossing the path from the small pond to the deep watershed. This is the biggest snapper I’ve encountered in Ohio. The carapace or shell was approximately 18 inches, the tail was approximately 12 inches and another 6 inches for the head and extended neck. I wasn’t about to try for a more accurate measurement. It would likely weigh 35 pounds easily based on turtles a friend of mine used to catch for turtle soup. The path it left in its wake throu
gh the grass and low foliage left no doubt something big had been there. By the water’s edge it encountered a log that was about 12 inches high and it simply went up and over it. The brute then entered the water and submerged. It is no wonder that the Wood Ducklings kept disappearing so rapidly this year.



Charlie Bombaci

Hoover Nature Preserve

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