Greetings Birders-

I wanted to pass this information along to those who may be interested in
rare bird sightings in NW Ohio this last week and/or for record keeping
purposes.  

On Saturday, May 4, 2013, David True, a refuge ranger from Aransas National
Wildlife Refuge in Texas, spotted a beautiful plumage male RUFF at Ottawa
National Wildlife Refuge's Blausey Unit during a FREE field trip that ONWR
was running to this restricted access wetland near the Touissant River. 

Christopher Taylor and Ken Schmidt gave me permission to share their awesome
photos of the Ruff on Toledo's Rarebird.org forum.  

http://www.rarebird.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7443&title=ruff-mississippi-kites-nw-ohio


ONWR ran free bus trips all week to Cedar Point NWR and to their surrounding
wetlands that are typically closed to the public. Thank you Ottawa NWR!!  If
you were fortunate to snag a spot on one of these free bus trips, you may
have been one of the lucky ones to see some of the awesome birds that have
been visiting these restored wetlands this May.  Ottawa NWR has worked hard
on restoring and/or maintaining the marshes, wetlands, and shorelines of
Lake Erie with the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant. When you take a
moment to view a gorgeous male Ruff in your spotting scope, you can't help
but appreciate the efforts of the land managers at Ottawa NWR & The Nature
Conservancy for providing habitat for rare, threatened, and endangered
species!  It is obvious that the folks at the refuge care about birds. Not
only are they providing and improving the habitat for the birds, they were
giving us birders a chance to explore it FREE!!  It doesn't get any better
than that, folks, especially when the rare, threatened, and endangered
species utilize the habitat! I led a few of those bus trips and I know we
had bus loads of very happy birders!  Cameron Cox's bus trip to Cedar Point
on Friday, May 10, had 25 species of warblers and 108 species total in the
four hours they were there including three Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a
Yellow-throated Warbler, and a Clay-colored Sparrow.

Other birds spotted these last few weeks at Cedar Point NWR & surrounding
OWNR wetlands included - (2) Eurasian Wigeons, (1) Eared Grebe, (8) American
White Pelicans, (1) Piping Plover, (2) Black-necked Stilts, (55) American
Avocets, (1) Ruff, (1) Franklin's Gull, (1) Black Tern - (32) at ONWR
yesterday on the auto tour), (1) Worm-eating Warbler, (1) Clay-colored
Sparrow, and (1) Blue Grosbeak. <--- Now that is one heck of a list!!  Magee
Marsh rocks for colorful warblers in May, but you can't deny that a male
Ruff and the long pink bubble gum colored legs of a Black-necked Stilt make
great eye candy for birders as well!!  Don't miss signing up for these trips
next May. 


And in my hometown, Oregon, Ohio...

On Monday, May 6, 2013, Lee Adams from Virginia visited Pearson Park in
Oregon on her own. Much to her surprise, she spotted two MISSISSIPPI KITES
(her nemesis bird in Virginia) flying overhead and was able to get decent
photos of one of them in flight. Later on, she showed her photos to Sam
Woods, of Tropical Birding, who confirmed her bird in the photo was indeed a
Mississippi Kite!!  They were reported to eBird shortly after.  I ran into
Lee at Magee later in the week and asked her if I could share her photos on
Toledo's Rarebird.org forum. Thank you Lee!!

A big thanks to the Ohio Division of Wildlife at the front of the boardwalk
this year with their table of birding info, maps, checklists, and multicolor
OOS spring warbler guides. Great to see you there representing Magee Marsh,
one of the best places to bird in the country during spring migration!! The
officers/staff were friendly and helpful and I was super impressed at their
knowledge of birds. 

May in Northwest Ohio Rocks! 

Good Birding!

Sherrie Duris
Vice President 
Toledo Naturalists' Association
www.toledonaturalist.org

OHIO RARE BIRD ALERT Facebook Group Administrator
https://www.facebook.com/groups/OHIORAREBIRDALERT

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