I started around 6:30am at the Magee Boardwalk (to beat the crowds) & saw a Com Nighthawk flying in the W sky. I had heard them last night at our hotel. Two Green Herons flew over my head & landed close by. Sandhill Cranes were calling but I did not see them. Adult BC Night-Heron was hanging out.


A bit later, I got wonderful views of a male Mourning Warbler near where it has been reported previously. It showed well at eye level then I saw it bomb after a Magnolia, apparently not willing to share its tangle w/the Maggie. The Mourning W then snuck back & reappeared in its favorite spot but then, was usually low & often completely hidden from view. Having only had 2 brief, unsatisfying looks at this species some years ago (& "just" missing one at Ottawa yesterday), I was v excited to finally "really" see the bird & at eye level to boot.


The Woodcock that had shown so well for so long yesterday was not at its appointed spot today. Singing Tennessee, Blackpolls seen well from the Boardwalk, both new trip birds for me from yesterday. A brilliant Blackburnian male was showing well.


On the Estuary Trail, I had both cuckoos and the E Screech-Owl was looking out his nest hole. Another birder ID'd a Philadelphia Vireo flying over but I only saw a bird going away... I'd seen a Canada Warbler yesterday but was pleased to see another as well as N Parula (heard only yesterday), Black-thr Blue (male & female), Bay-breasted, BT Green & Chestnut-sided.


As the Boardwalk was now crowded despite the festival being over, I decided to chase the Hooded that was reported from Metzger Marsh with the vague hope of a shot at another Mourning Warbler that had been heard there along w/another Canada.


This was a new spot for me & it was hopping! The Hooded was singing & seen relatively quickly then the warblers just kept showing up: B&W, Blackpoll, Bay-breasted, BT Blue, Canada, Am Redstart, Tennessee, Magnolia, Yellow. I had been frustrated that I hadn't seen Prothonotary on the Boardwalk (& felt like I was the only birder who had not) so I was thinking how nice it would be if one showed up in this little corner of woods with all these other wonderful warblers. I turned around & as if on cue, there was a Prothonotary on a low branch above a big puddle, singing! Then some birders waved me over: the Mourning Warbler, another male! This one sang & showed well also & was often 8-10 ft high in a small tree. A dozen warbler species in prob less than an hour...


Other birds in that tiny patch of woods: Swainson's Thrush (also feeding high), Cedar Waxwings, Scarlet Tanagers (2 males).


A Cape May was seen as well but in the warbler flurry, I can't recall if it was on the Estuary Trail or at Metzger...sorry--exciting day!


I checked out Pearson Metro Park where a Connecticut W had been reported 2 days ago but some local birders told me it has not been reported since altho another birder at Metzger had said he had heard but not seen it, I think yesterday but I might be wrong. In any case, I did not see or hear it. The local birders said it was a v good morning there but their warblers had been mostly high up.


Thanks again to all the friendly birders who shared sightings, recommended hotspots & helped point out birds.


Peggy Wang
Hudson






______________________________________________________________________

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]