Hello!  

Here is the news from the past week (March 10-16, 2014) in Stark County.

It has been a typical weather week for this time of year here in NE Ohio, with a mixture of beautiful warm sunny days and very cold, windy days as well.  It somehow seems like those cold days are far worse right now, doesn’t it?  A few warm days really spoils us.

Walborn Reservoir in eastern Stark and the intersection of Berlin Lake and Deer Creek Reservoir (on eBird as a hotspot marked ‘Berlin Mudflats’) has been quite productive over the past week.  Highlights have included a pair of Red-necked Grebe working the waters near Reeder Ave. at Walborn.  Many great views of these two lovely birds.  One has been in a more subtle plumage, whereas the other is moving rapidly into it’s full red-necked glory.  The other big highlight from this area was the Greater White-fronted Goose spotted by Kent Miller on the bridge over Berlin Lake at SR 225.  That goose was nice enough to hang around long enough for me and Ben Morrison to get there to see it.  Maybe Kent bribed it, but I cannot confirm that.

Other species located over the past week in the above area included big numbers of Ring-necked Ducks, Tundra Swan (a high count of 365 on Saturday 3/15), 5 Horned Grebe (in various stages of plumage, which had us looking carefully for potential Eared Grebe) at Walborn on German Church Rd., the first appearances of Green-winged Teal, Wood Ducks,  and the first sightings this year of Double-crested Cormorants in the same area. We also saw the first appearances of Pied-billed Grebe this year.  There were continuing good numbers of Northern Pintail and American Wigeon in the area, but we have yet to locate a Eurasian Wigeon among them.  We continue to scope the Wigeon in hopes of locating a Eurasian, as well as looking carefully at the Green-winged Teal for the Eurasian variety of their species.  Scaup continued in the area as well, but their numbers seemed to be decreasing as the ice gave way.

On the same day that Kent Miller had the Greater White-fronted Goose at Berlin, I had 4 at the Jackson Bog State Nature Preserve in Jackson Twp.  I also had 5 Rusty Blackbirds that evening further into the Bog along the boardwalk.  There was a flyover of a couple of Killdeer proudly calling out to announce their arrival.  

Red-winged Blackbirds were staking out their territories on the warmer days.  They seemed to be looking south and calling out for the arrival of females.  Some were flashing those amazing wings as well.  Lovely.  On the cold days, it seemed that they would move off of these spots and gather in larger flocks again, mixing in with Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and European Starling.  Ben Morrison had a Brewer’s Blackbird on Sunday on the north end of Reeder Ave. mixed in with a flock of other birds, including some Rusties.  That was his 2nd Brewer’s in as many weeks!  

Song Sparrows could be heard and seen singing away at just about every turn.  A lovely sound to this birder’s ears.

Sippo Lake Park (between Canton and Massillon) finally gave up some ice and had an area of open water near the dam.  Over the course of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the open water grew to represent about 15-20% of the surface water on the north side of the lake.  Species quickly dropped in and included Ring-necked Ducks, Tundra Swan, Gadwall, Redhead, American Black Ducks, Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Lesser Scaup, Hooded Merganser, Pied-billed Grebe, and American Coot.  The swampy area along the Cottonwood Trail near the Sanders Rehabilitation Center was holding Green-winged Teal, Wood Ducks, an American Wigeon and over 60 mallard in a very small area of open water.  

There were two additional highlights at Sippo this past weekend.  On Saturday, I relocated the Gray Catbird that we sighted on a Stark Parks bird walk on December 28, 2013.  The bird is being quite elusive and stayed very low, but I was able to get a good enough look to confirm it’s ID.  I am guessing that this bird has overwintered in the park and kept a very low profile.  The second highlight was the appearance of an Osprey.  I was watching and photographing birds toward the east from the far west end of the dam when a large raptor caught my eye.  The Osprey flew over the area near the observation deck near Exploration Gateway, wheeled around to survey the open water and then plunged in full force creating a tremendous splash!  The bird powered it’s way out of the water grasping a bass that would make any spring angler envious!  The Osprey powered it’s way upward and into a very strong W-SW wind (probably gusting at 25mph +) and headed north with it’s dinner.  It was a great end to a great day!

Kent Miller had an American Woodcock (Timberdoodle) calling at Quail Hollow SP on Saturday night.  I attempted to hear one at Sippo the same night, but did not have any luck.  

Sunday ended up being a bit too cold for this birder and the few moments I spent scoping and walking did not produce anything of note.  I think maybe the birds were in the same mindset as me….hunker down and stay warm.

That’s the news from Stark County.  The weather is breaking and we’ll be watching for the first appearances of Blue-winged Teal and Tree Sparrows this week.

Peace and Happy Birding!


Jon Cefus


“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” 
-Douglas Adams


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