Greetings!

It has been a few weeks since I have been able to generate a narrative update on my sightings in Stark County, but this week was certainly special, so I felt it was high time to get on it…

On Saturday April 4, I met my friend Sandra Griffiths at Sippo Lake Park to hopefully pick up her FOY Common Loon and Great Egret and we were successful immediately.  There were 9 Common Loon working various parts of the lake and an incredible 11 Great Egret at the far south end!  There were also 2 Red-necked Grebe, which were continuing at the lake after a high count of 6 the week before.  The highlight of the morning with Sandra was the brief appearance of a Louisiana Waterthrush along a small stream off of the Sippo Lake Trail.  During the afternoon, an Osprey continued to make appearances showing the local fisherman how it is done.  I had my FOY Barn Swallow as well that day.  The day was capped off at sunset with my great friend Dr. No and I being treated once again to a wonderful display by the resident American Woodcocks.

On Sunday, I spent time hiking around the West side of SIppo Lake Park around the Sanders Rehab Center.  Highlights of that time included a nice Rusty Blackbird, a Brown Creeper, and a marked increase in presence of Golden-crowned Kinglets.  In addition, I had been noticing the increased presence over the previous two weeks of a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks.  This is definitely a mating pair of birds, as I was witness to one of their “bonding” experiences.  They have been hunting quite successfully as I have found the shredded remains of a few squirrels and saw one of the birds carrying off a rabbit as a small murder of crows pursued it.  For the last year, I had been seeing a pair of Red-tailed Hawks in the same area, but since the appearance of the Red-shouldered Hawks I have not seen much of the Red-tails…I wonder if that is related?

On Monday, I spent the day birding with Ben Morrison.  We were searching areas of Southeastern Stark County for good shorebird habitat seeking sedge fields and sky ponds.  We found several good areas south of Louisville and in the Robertsville area, but did not come up with any shorebirds.  We did however see many Eastern Meadowlark, several Northern Mockingbirds, and our FOY Northern Rough-winged Swallows perched on a wire near Robertsville.  We did not find any Snipe or shorebirds, but we sure did laugh a lot and had a really great day.

The middle of the week was comprised of scattered sightings of good birds primarily in and around various sky ponds and wet low spots in farm fields.  Kent Miller picked up a Lesser Yellowlegs and Savannah Sparrow along Coblentz Rd. in Lake Township.  I headed there shortly after, but missed the Lesser YL.  I did manage to pick up the Savannah Sparrows and American Pipits, as well as watching a lovely Eastern Meadowlark work the area.  There were also good numbers of Horned Lark in the area.  A few hours later, while looking again for the Lesser YL, I was able to located 2 Wilson’s Snipe perfectly camouflaged in the exact spot Kent had the Yellowlegs.  On Thursday, Kent located a Greater Yellowlegs in a sky pond along Nimishillen Church Rd. (Lake Twp) while I was birding at Sippo with Dale Zutavern.  Dale and I hopped in the car and got great looks at the bird.  While we were up there, we popped over to Coblentz and picked up a Wilson’s Snipe, Horned Larks, and Savannah Sparrow for Dale’s FOY birds.  Later that day, I had my FOY Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher at Sippo, as well as another wonderful American Woodcock display with Dr. No.  We also noted that this was the first time we had seen bats this year.

On Friday, I made a side trip out of Stark with Kent and Ben to see the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at Sheldon Marsh.  It was thrilling to see this lovely bird, but even more thrilling was seeing Ben get this life bird, not an easy task when you’ve seen so many!  It was a great day of fun and fellowship and the weather was spectacular!  Congratulations “Nugget Boy”!

Yesterday (Sat 4-12) was, at the risk of overusing this word, epic.  I met Kent and Ben near Bolivar bright and squirrelly as we wanted to search some spots to hear the drum of Ruffed Grouse.  We had some great spots, but did not hear any.   In spite of this, it was some incredible birding in a just a few short hours.  After the cold and fog burned off, we started searching the lowland flood-prone areas around Deuber Avenue for other potential migrants and recent arrivals.  Early on, we heard the call of a Sandhill Crane.  In several spots we heard Brown Thrashers signing from the thick underbrush.  Eastern Towhees were singing like crazy at just about every stop.  There was no shortage of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers either.  We then located a Virginia Rail working an area of cattails.  The bird practically walked across our shoes, but remained just elusive enough to avoid my camera lens except for a few “grass-filtered” shots.  We then parked the car up the road closer to the Bolivar Dam and were treated with our FOY Yellow-throated Warblers and aYellow-Throated Vireo.  I had to go, but Kent and Ben kept birding and located a Solitary Sandpiper not far from the Wilderness Center in the Wilmot area.

Later in the day, I made my way to Petros Lake Park (new eBird hotspot FYI) to see if I could locate a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that was reported a few days earlier and that Kent and Ben picked up after we parted earlier in the day.  I was not disappointed and got some lovely pictures of this beautiful male bird.  It can be located on the Hickory Trail and seemed to be hanging around the south end of the trail near a small bridge over a stream.  This is also a great place to pick up a Fox Sparrow if you do not have one yet for the year.  Once again, Eastern Towhees were singing like crazy.

The day ended yesterday with a night of Owling with Dr. No at Quail Hollow State Park.  We were not disappointed!  After a cacophony of loud campers settled down a bit, we were treated to plenty of calls of Barred Owls, including a pair caterwauling, a sound that is not to be missed.  Imagine what it must have been like hundreds of years ago to hear such a sound coming out of the dark forest!  Soon after the Barred Owls settled down and things were quiet for a while, we heard what we were there to listen for….a pair of Long-eared Owls calling.  The pair called back and forth for a little under 10 minutes.  It was a real treat.  We also had the company of an American Woodcock “peenting” away for most of the time we were there.  What a day it was for this new birder let me tell you.  I had 3 life birds, 4 new Ohio 2014 birds, and 7 Stark Big Year 2014 birds in one day!  

As always, thanks to Sandra, Ben, and Kent for taking the time to bird with me and share their experience and fellowship with me.  I honestly do not know how I have found my way into such a wonderful group of people, but I thank my lucky stars everyday for it.  Also, thanks to Dr. No, my best friend and a birder who does not know it yet, for always wanting to sit out in the woods and listen for owls and other interesting things.  

That’s the news from Stark County.  Happy Birding and be safe folks!

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


______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.


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