Greetings,

This morning, I located 2 Baird’s Sandpipers at the Hartville Community Garden pond in Stark County.  Ben Morrison just relocated the birds and confirmed the ID at 3:15 pm.  There are also Least Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper and Killdeer, as well as a very noisy Cooper’s Hawk, who may mess up the show.  Ben reported the Cooper’s flew over and landed right in the mudflat!

Earlier this morning, Kent Miller and I birded the mudflats of Berlin Lake/Deer Creek Reservoir beginning at Greenbower Bridge and then moving over to Price Rd, both of which are also in Stark Co.  From Greenbower, visibility is difficult to say the least, but we were able to see Killdeer, Pectoral Sandpiper and at least 11 Great Egret.  There were also many Great Blue Herons and the nesting Osprey.  The only warbler was a lovely Prothonotary.  The habitat looks very promising, but the trees offer visibility issues.  Good for warblers, bad for shorebird viewing.

As far as birding at Price Rd. goes, we parked at the small landing/parking lot just west of the Bridge, just west of SR 225 and then hiked the woods/shoreline to the south in order to look across the water toward Greenbower Bridge.  While Kent was with me, we did not see anything that stood out shorebird wise (same birds as we saw from Greenbower), but we did see many more Great Egret as they continue to gather in that area and a lovely Caspian Tern.  After Kent left, I continued hiking west toward Deer Creek dam and spillway and got a look at some more shorebirds, but had some difficulty ID’ing from that distance.  What were clear were Yellowlegs sp., Killdeer, Pectoral Sandpipers, and peeps.  I also had 3 Red-headed Woodpeckers calling and flying around, a juvenile Bald Eagle, as well as what appeared to be a 3-4 year old Bald Eagle whose head feathers are just now turning white.  The only gulls I saw were Ring-billed.

The habitat at this Berlin/Deer Creek mudflat area is looking very encouraging right now, provided we do not get a bunch of rain.  The mudflats are fairly extensive and appear to be growing daily.  If you are looking for shorebirds in or near Stark Co., this is a great place to check.  If you find anything of note, we sure would appreciate you letting us know if possible as we are all doing a Big Year in Stark and are trying to see how many species we can still see this year.

Many thanks 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.” 
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