Hello fellow avian admirers!

I hope you were able to get out at some point this weekend and enjoy what
was surely our official first weekend of spring.  To celebrate, I took my
kayak out to Lake Snowden (Athens County) for its maiden voyage of 2013.  I
was delighted when I pulled into the parking lot to be greeted by many Tree
Swallows.  The sky was teeming with them and their lovely liquid-sounding
tinkling song.  I watched at least 7 birds congregate around one nest box
when I first arrived.  They were spread out all over the lake, so it was
hard to get a good count, but it was easy to see at least 10 at any one
given spot.   I also spied one Barn Swallow in the mix.  I looked for
Northern Rough-wings, but did not find any.  There were many mosquitoes and
other insects on the wing, which is surely what has drawn them there in such
concentration.  Eastern Bluebirds are also usually quite plentiful here
(there's a good number of nest boxes along the shoreline), and I saw them
during winter, but they were not present on this day.

Other findings of note on the lake were a single Osprey, and several Horned
Grebe.  The beauty of birding by boat is that you can get rather close to a
bird without spooking it.  This allows one to see field marks up close with
binoculars that are usually a struggle to see even with a scope.  The stout,
heavy bill of the grebe had absolutely no hint of being upturned, and I
could even see the white-colored tip at the end.  Also, the white cheek
patch was clearly evident.  Other waterfowl on the lake was what you might
expect: Canada Geese and Mallards.  Conspicuously absent were Kildeer (I saw
only one - normally there are many), Great Blue Heron, and Wood Duck.  In
the woods I saw several Yellow-rumped Warblers flitting from tree to tree,
singing merrily.

Away from the lake and closer to my homestead, which is near to the
Athens/Vinton County line, several new arrivals came in this week.  I
observed a pair of Brown Thrashers Tuesday or Wednesday evening, and
Thursday evening marked my first hearing of Louisiana Waterthrush song. 
There were two countersinging males, one of them already working on his
extended evening song.  Since that evening, I have heard them singing and
calling consistently all along the creek bed that runs parallel to our road,
and even along a separate creek that feeds into the main one.

Woodcocks have been putting on display flights in our neighborhood since
very late February, but I flushed one on the woods for the first time this
season on Sunday.  It was in the same location where I flushed a family of
them multiple times last summer, so it's time to be on the lookout for a
nest. Our resident pair of Eastern Phoebes arrived on March 16th and are
currently trying to decide on a nesting location.  I have watched the male
perform his courtship display on several different occasions.  Field Sparrow
was heard singing for the first time yesterday, and several Chipping
Sparrows were found cavorting in the open field across from our house, along
with American Robins, Eastern Bluebirds and Song Sparrows.  I also heard the
first vocalizations of the season from Brown-headed Cowbird yesterday. 
Still waiting for the Tree Swallows to return to that particular spot,
though.  Winter birds that will surely be gone soon, but still continue for
now were Dark-eyed Junco, Golden-crowned Kinglet and White-throated Sparrow.  

Waiting for more good things to come in the following weeks!  The mini-dawn
chorus that awakened me this morning was a delightful thing, and I look
forward to hearing it fill out with new songs, bird by bird, day by day.

Good birding!

Heather Aubke
Albany, OH

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