Today  my wife Linda, good friends Darlene Sillick and Leslie Sours, and I
enjoyed a  day of birding at Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve in
Licking County. Many  of the birds were cooperative and provided us with great
views but then there  are those stinkers that sing so close you can feel their
breath but you cant  sort them out of the foliage. After a while you just
write these things off as  part of the pastime of birding.
Highlights  were many throughout the day and choosing the best is
impossible. We had  multiple Cerulean Warblers sing as low as eye level with no
obstructions to our  view. Yellow-breasted Chats doing a sing off and flying
across our path in the  sunlight. One was especially bright, an orange that
seemed to glow in the  sunlight. Prairie Warblers perched on the end of a branch
and serenading us. A  male Cape May Warbler that sat and preened long
enough to study every field  mark. A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird doing its U
flight mating display. And a  switch that delights an old birder when a small
opening in secondary growth  produced a Blue-winged and a Golden-winged
Warbler together and apparently  interacting. The list today could go on and on
as the birds decided it was a  perfect day to act the way birders wish they
would.
Charlie,  for Linda, Darlene, Leslie and myself
Our  list:
Great  Blue Heron
Black  Vulture
Turkey  Vulture
Canada  Goose
Mallard
Red-shouldered  Hawk
Broad-winged  Hawk
Red-tailed  Hawk
American  Kestrel
Mourning  Dove
Yellow-billed  Cuckoo   (heard)
Chimney  Swift
Ruby-throated  Hummingbird
Red-bellied  Woodpecker
Downy  Woodpecker
Hairy  Woodpecker
Northern  Flicker
Pileated  Woodpecker
Eastern  Wood-Pewee
Acadian  Flycatcher
Least  Flycatcher
Eastern  Phoebe
Great  Crested Flycatcher
Eastern  Kingbird
White-eyed  Vireo
Warbling  Vireo
Philadelphia  Vireo
Red-eyed  Vireo
Blue  Jay
American  Crow
Tree  Swallow
Northern  Rough-winged Swallow
Barn  Swallow
Carolina  Chickadee
Tufted  Titmouse
White-breasted  Nuthatch
Brown  Creeper
Carolina  Wren
House  Wren
Blue-gray  Gnatcatcher
Eastern  Bluebird
Wood  Thrush (heard)
American  Robin
Gray  Catbird
Brown  Thrasher
European  Starling
Blue-winged  Warbler
Golden-winged  Warbler
Tennessee  Warbler
Nashville  Warbler
Northern  Parula
Yellow  Warbler
Cape  May Warbler
Yellow-rumped  Warbler
Black-throated  Green Warbler
Yellow-throated  Warbler
Prairie  Warbler
Cerulean  Warbler
Black-and-White  Warbler
Ovenbird  (heard)
Louisiana  Waterthrush
Common  Yellowthroat
Hooded  Warbler (heard)
Yellow-breasted  Chat
Summer  Tanager (heard)
Scarlet  Tanager (heard)
Eastern  Towhee
Chipping  Sparrow
Field  Sparrow
Song  Sparrow
Northern  Cardinal
Rose-breasted  Grosbeak (heard)
Indigo  Bunting
Red-winged  Blackbird
Common  Grackle
Brown-headed  Cowbird
Baltimore  Oriole
American  Goldfinch
***  Non-eligible species: Peacock [Linda wanted him to get some credit
because he  was so pretty][Resident of preserve neighbor's  property]

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