Hi, I'm out at the old coliseum site now and am looking @ a sedge wren nest (yes from a distance). It is due south of the parking lot. Have also seen a handful of henslow's sparrows. Renee -----Original Message----- From: Steve Cagan <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Ohio birds <[log in to unmask]> Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2010 08:05:35 To: <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: Steve Cagan <[log in to unmask]> Subject: [Ohio-birds] Slightly late post- Richfield coliseum 7/5/10 Hi Everyone, Inspired by the recent posts by other birders, Beth and I went out yesterday morning (July 5) to bird the old Richfield Coliseum site in Summit County. For people on other parts of the state who might not know this site, it¹s right at the intersection of I-271 and Rte 303‹just northwest of the intersection. It¹s a fair-sized meadow, and while you won¹t have a large number of species there, what you see during migrations and in the nesting seasons for grassland birds can be very good. But be advised that there is very little shade there, so if you go to see the grassland birds on a nice hot sunny summer day, make sure to cover up and bring water. A little OT, while a lot of the ground is dominated by vetch and other invasive non-native plants, there is such a nice variety of grasses and sedges there‹and in the autumn of asters‹that we¹d love to see some naturalist-led tours to help identify the flora. As expected, there was also a variety of butterflies and a few odonata. But I digress‹ birds. We had five target birds, and managed to see all but one of them. The only one we didn¹t get was Grasshopper Sparrow, and I wonder if we were there at the wrong time of day to hear them... The birds we had were: American Robin Blue Jay Red-winged Blackbird‹the dominant bird, many individuals including a good number of fledglings. Common Yellowthroat‹at least 3-4 heard Tree Swallow And the target birds: Sedge Wren‹several singing birds, and we had good looks at two individuals Henslow¹s Sparrow‹quite a few singing birds‹at least 8 or 10, probably more. On the west side of the fence that runs through the middle of the meadow, the singing was pretty constant.(There were a lot more Sedge Wrens on the west side as well.) We had several good looks at 3 or 4 different individuals. I wonder if they have chicks or eggs in nest right now, as it seemed to me that some of these birds were being intentionally visible, and a couple of times we noticed that flight‹straight away and suddenly turning back‹that I¹ve been told is associated with protecting nests. Bobolink‹two individuals, singing Eastern Meadowlark (well, presumably Eastern)‹several individuals in different places around the meadow. We ended the morning feeling hot and thirsty, but happy. Best wishes, Steve Cagan Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga County -------------------------------------------- Steve Cagan, photographer [log in to unmask] www.stevecagan.com www.pbase.com/stevecagan 216-932-2753 (USA) ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]