6 hours of a beautiful sunny 60 degree day reminded me of why I love birding--not only the birds but the seasons and (mostly) the people.  Joe Raile, a welcome fixture at Thurber Pond, was dispensing peanuts and cemetery historical lore as well as a wonderful birdwatching poem he'd penned.  The hard-working Audubon volunteer whose name I've forgotten was checking the suet and hauling bags of sunflower seeds to refill the feeders.  Kenny and Norma Darst had their telescope set up at a respectful distance from the great horned owl nest and graciously shared spectacular views of the 3 owlets, who may be fledging soon.  Many folks have attempted--mostly unsuccessfully--to reason with the far too many spectators, photographers and, I fear, birders who do NOT respect the owl nesting site.  I don't know if there's a rule of thumb for maintaining a safe boundary; I figure if I'm so close that the bird starts watching me,  I'm too close.  Most
 Spectacular Find of the day goes to Doreen Littrell for the woodcock making its ungainly but dignified way around the edge of the pond; my thanks to her and to the nice man with her (another forgotten name!) who chased me down so I could share their good luck.  The phoebes, as others have noted, have returned, and alas the cowbirds--lots of glossy, noisy males.  A single male red-winged blackbird was calling and displaying; he (or his twin) spends a few days at the pond every spring but never to my knowledge succeeds in persuading a female to join him.  My unsuccessful day-long quest for a sapsucker led me to pursue what I thought at first was the sapsucker's "catbird call"--mroowrr--only to realize as I neared it that I would find a hawk instead and indeed a LARGE adult Cooper's hawk seemed to be staking out a potential nest site.  A trip to the Bridge area netted me a large garbage bag full of trash along the way but also my favorite Spring
 migrants:  fox sparrows, a dear winter wren, a hermit thrush (or maybe several since I saw one repeatedly) and a male towhee.  Mourning cloaks and what a fellow birder thought might be buckeye butterflies were flitting about near the Smith monument.  Other cemetery firsts of the year for me were a male bluebird and a chipping sparrow.  The 3 inches of snow we got Thursday has melted.  Life is good!  Good birding.  Pam

There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. --Albert Einstein




______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]