Had a great weekend of birding in Athens!  I had originally planned on doing
a "big day" on Saturday, but that turned into more of a "let's see what I
can find in this one little pocket of the county" kind of day.  I was not
disappointed.

First I started out along the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway, once again in the
soccer fields behind Walmart that had been flooded from the recent heavy
rains.  Almost all of the flood water had receded by Saturday afternoon, but
the fields were still extremely mucky, and there were still some decent-size
puddles.  I found 1 Solitary Sandpiper, and saw 2 Willets fly by.  Farther
down the field (roughly behind the Staples store) there were at least 10
Spotted Sandpipers bobbing about. I also saw 2 Killdeer, and the requisite
Canada Geese.  

The flooded fields are not the only fruitful area for birding along here,
though.  There is a large stretch of the bikepath that has small-ish,
fragmented woods on both sides, and close to the fields there is an open
area that has some emergent vegetation that is home to many Red-winged
Blackbirds and Grackles.  Notable birds in the emergent vegetation area were
3 Kingbirds (I found 4 of them Friday evening), and 2 migrant Swamp Sparrows
(also found on Friday evening - I did not relocate them Saturday).  Heading
more into the wooded areas, Yellow Warblers and Common Yellowthroats were
plentiful, as were Gray Catbirds.  Both Baltimore and Orchard Orioles were
present, so if you're looking for an area where you can find both of these
species at one time, this is the place!  I observed a Song Sparrow carrying
nesting material in one area.  Being close to the river, swallows were
plentiful, including Northern Rough-winged, Tree and Barn.  Cliff Swallows
nest under the route 33 overpass, so I'm sure they them were around as well,
but I didn't see any.

After I "got tired" of this habitat, I went for a change of scenery and
headed to Sells Park, which is on the other side of East State street from
the bike path.  What an incredible place to bird, or to just hike around for
that matter.  For me, this is a terribly under-used park, and I'm going to
take steps to correct that.  I saw or heard 56 species of birds while hiking
around the trails over the course of about 3 hours.  The habitat is wooded,
with a few open areas (near the parking lot), but the wooded areas are
diverse, with some areas having quite a bit of understory vegetation, while
other areas are relatively free of understory.  Also, there is a
medium-sized pond just up from the parking area. 

Notable birds observed while at Sells Park include:
- White-throated Sparrows still hanging around in the vegetation close to
the parking area
- a single Ruby-crowned Kinglet flitting around at eye level
- 4 species of vireo: White-eyed, Red-eyed (very common in the lower woods
of the park), Yellow-throated, and Blue-headed (2 individuals seen at 2
different points in the park)
- 13 species of warbler: Hooded, Kentucky, Black-throated Green (heard
counter-singing), Cerulean, Black and White, Blackburnian, Worm-eating,
Nashville, Yellow-rumped, Yellow-throated, Louisiana Waterthrush, Northern
Parula, and Ovenbird.  I'll bet there were more, but my warbler ears are
still not quite fine-tuned enough to catch them all.
- Many Wood Thrushes throughout the park, and especially visible in the
areas with little understory.  I also heard one of the migrant thrushes, but
it was singing SUPER quietly, so much so that it's impossible for me to
guess its identity other than to say it WASN'T a Wood Thrush.  Of course I
never saw the bird, so it will remain Mystery Migrant Thrush.
- Cooper's Hawk soaring high in the sky with unidentified bird in its talons
for dinner.

Overall for the day on Saturday, I tallied about 75 species of birds,
including 40 during the morning just around my rural "neighborhood" before I
headed out for the day.  Not too shabby!  Loads of fun, and lots of new
birding memories.  Southeast Ohio birding rocks!!

Heather Aubke
Athens

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