I was thinking of what to do in July. I had a few ideas. The July 100
Challenge sounds like a pretty good idea. But, I also thought of some other
things...

1. Go to an area where I have never been before: This is easy to find using
eBird/Bird Trax, county park system web pages or other web sites. I was also
thinking of visiting a place where I have never been before that is a
hotspot in winter. I will be familiar with the area before going there when
the roads are messy with that white stuff.

2. Go to an area where I haven't been to in a long time: Yesterday I went to
a park I haven't been to in a couple of years. It was really nice. And, I
ran into some birders who told me about some other places to go in the area.

3. Find a different way to bird a familiar area: I walk in the Cleveland
Metroparks regularly. I walk on the bridle trails, the hiking trails and the
paved bike paths. But, I have also discovered that walking along the roads
can be good, too. The parks usually mow the grass along the roads. So, there
is normally an area at least 10 feet wide to walk on away from the roadway.
Sometimes the roads can give you views of the woods that you wouldn't
normally see by using the other trails. 

4. Go chase something: Yeah...Well...This usually doesn't work out very well
for me. I have pretty much stopped doing it. If I do consider trying to
chase I check the surrounding area and make sure that there is a park or
something to go to just in case the chase bird doesn't work out. On the
other hand, a few years ago I did get to see that purple gallinule that was
around NE Ohio. So, maybe...

5. Go see some birds that are restricted to certain areas: I haven't seen a
purple martin in awhile. So, I am going to look for places with
houses/boxes. Why not? They are beautiful birds. There are houses/boxes near
Lake Erie (Mentor Lagoons) and near Portage Lakes in Akron. I know there are
other places to visit near these martin houses. Another area I was thinking
of visiting is the general Lake Erie lakefront. It is always nice to go to
the lake.

6. Just go hike in a nice area and take your binoculars. There are plenty of
nice parks around. And, there are now butterflies flittering about. Summer
is a good time to look for snakes, too.

Anyone else have any ideas like this?

______________________________________________________________________

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.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]