APRIL 16, 2016 - CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL PARK - SUMMIT COUNTY.HIKE: Lock 29 Overflow Parking Lot in Peninsula north on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad tracks to Boston, then take the Towpath Trail south to the Valley Trail above Stumpy Basin onto the Buckeye Trail to "old" (upper) Akron-Peninsula Rd. back to the Overflow lot in Peninsula.TIME: 10:55am-2:35pm TEMP.: 64-73 COND.: Sunny, cloudless, warm & beautiful! "Spring has sprung - the grass has riz - tell me where the birdies is"! - Jim Vogus. FT.MI.: 5.0 OBS.: Douglas W. & Michelle Vogus.
I. MAMMALS: 3 SPECIES.   
   - Eastern Gray Squirrel - 2   

   - Eastern Fox Squirrel - 1
   - White-tailed Deer - 3
NOTE: 1 dead Muskrat at the Overflow lot. Two baseball-sized rocks near its head, other than that, looked perfectly fine. Just sayin'...
II. BIRDS: 39 SPECIES.(NOTE: ? = bird was seen but not sexed; * = bird was heard calling but not sexed)   
   - Canada Goose - 2   

   - Mallard - 3 (2m,1f)
   - Turkey Vulture - 3
   - Red-tailed Hawk - 3
   - Barred Owl - 1 (day-hunting along Buckeye Trail north of "old" upper Akron-Peninsula Rd. - promptly found by a crow)
   - Red-bellied Woodpecker - 4 (1m,2?,1*)
   - Downy Woodpecker - 3 (1f,2*)
   - Northern Flicker - 1 (*)
   - Pileated Woodpecker - 1 (m - excavating nest hole)
   - Peregrine Falcon - 2 (1m,1f - Ohio Turnpike Bridge) - "Rocky", the male, has a new female. His old mate, "Lara" has moved north to the I-480 bridge near Cleveland. The new female is not banded & currently un-named. Nesting has failed the last 3 years & Rocky has yet to coax the new female to Lara's previous nesting site. There is no nesting tray here as these falcons chose this site on their own. The Ohio Turnpike Commission contracts out their bridge work, so there is no way to get a boom, or lift, to set up a nesting tray, without a lot of string-pulling. This may, or may not, be why the nesting has failed. This info provided by Chad Saladin, the official peregrine watcher. In June of 2011, I had both Rocky & Lara with 4 fledglings on my monthly Cuyahoga Valley Towpath Trail Census. My, how things have changed in the fickle (and often brutal) world of falcon mating. I do not take for granted that these birds will be here month to month, let alone year to year & realize that it could end permanently, at any time, without an actual nesting tray.
   
   - Eastern Phoebe - 2   

   - Blue Jay - 9
   - American Crow - 4
   - Tree Swallow - 4
   - Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 2
   - Black-capped Chickadee - 2
   - Tufted Titmouse - 5
   - White-breasted Nuthatch - 2 (*)
   - Winter Wren - 1 (along C.V.S.R. tracks between Peninsula & the Peninsula trestle)
   - Carolina Wren - 2
   - Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1 (?)
   - Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1 (m)
   - Eastern Bluebird - 1 (f)
   - American Robin - 6
   - European Starling - 2
   - Pine Warbler - 1 (m - along Buckeye Trail near "old" upper Akron-Peninsula Rd.)
   - Yellow-throated Warbler - 1 (m) - very vocal at the Peninsula trestle. Stunning male "creeping" the sycamores along the Cuyahoga River. Awesome breeding plumage - as my Dad would say, "Looked like he just came out of the cleaners".
   - Eastern Towhee - 1 (m)
   - Chipping Sparrow - 2
   - Field Sparrow - 2
   - Song Sparrow - 7
   - Swamp Sparrow - 1 (Stumpy Basin)
   - Northern Cardinal - 12 (6m,6f)
   - Red-winged Blackbird - 6 (m)
   - Common Grackle - 7
   - Brown-headed Cowbird - 5 (3m,2f)
   - House Finch - 2 (1m,1*)
   - American Goldfinch - 9 (6m,1f,2*)
   - House Sparrow - 9

III. REPTILES: 2 SPECIES.   
   - Common Snapping Turtle - 1   

   - Midland Painted Turtle - 4

IV. AMPHIBIANS: 1 SPECIES.   
   - Northern Spring Peeper - 2 (heard only)   


V. FISHES: 3 SPECIES.   
   - Rosyside Dace - 4 (Boston Run)   

   - Creek Chub - 11 (Boston Run)
   - Barred Fantail Darter - 3 (Boston Run)

VI. BUTTERFLIES: 2 SPECIES.   
   - Cabbage Butterfly - 5   

   - Mourning Cloak - 1

Douglas W. Vogus - Akron, Ohio. 

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