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March & April 2002

A Little Blue Heron appeared yesterday at Slate Run MP in Pickaway Co. - Jim Fry, Greg Miller.

Here is a different view of a Virginia Rail than most of us get to see. The bird was captured for banding by Black Swamp Bird Observatory yesterday at Navarre Marsh in Ottawa Co. Photo courtesy Bill Rinehart

Here are a couple of warblers coming through at the present time on migration. Photos courtesy Michelle Hogberg in Logan County Ohio.

A Black-throated Gray Warbler was discovered this morning at Dawes Arboretum in Licking County (east of Columbus) by Scott Albaugh. Scott was able to get the word out quickly prompting Jim McCormac and Mike Williams to follow up with additional sightings and these superb images courtesy Mike Williams - Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

The C.J. Brown Reservoir American White Pelicans were present today numbering 19 birds - Doug Overacker.

Both Eared Grebes were relocated today at Conneaut Harbor - John Pogacnik et al.. John also located 2 Little Gulls and a Black-headed Gull. One adult Lesser Black-backed Gull remained and a 1st yr Glaucous Gull was also present.

Photo by John Pogacnik; digital image (4x) through a scope (20x).

Highlights of a hawk watch from Sunset Park this afternoon included an Osprey, Broad-winged Hawk, and Northern Goshawk.

A Harris's Sparrow was discovered this morning at Spring Valley W.A. on the Greene/Warren County line near Caesar Creek Reservoir. Dave St. John had the bird along the brushy edge to the parking lot along Pence-Jones Road; the east side of the wildlife area. This is the large parking lot leading to the observation tower.

Brian Menker discovered 4 American White Pelicans at nearby C.J.Brown Reservoir in Clark County Thursday. Troy Shiveley found the number had increased to 13 the next morning. This is by far a state record count for this species. But they were not done; by afternoon Dan Sanders was able to account for a total of 17.

Conneaut Harbor is often very productive in late March and early April though not getting much attention this year. It took Gary Meszaros to break the silence today with the discovery of no less than SIX Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 2 Eared Grebes. Up until last spring, the increase in Lesser Black-backeds in the fall and winter seasons of recent years had not been realized in the spring months. This may be changing as this flock comes after a spate of records the previous weekend. Most notably was the unprecedented inland concentration of FOUR birds at Clear Fork Reservoir (Morrow/Richland Cos.) - Roger Troutman and John Herman last Sunday. Also a week ago today, I had a breeding plumage adult feeding at Pickerel Creek W.A. for one of very few Sandusky County records.

After several communications, it appears there are two distinctly different Black-headed Gulls in the Cleveland area. An adult winter bird with no discernible hood was first observed a week ago at Fairport Harbor and has been seen as lately as Friday near Dike 14 in Cleveland - Sean Zadar. Wednesday, Ben Morrison reported a bird with a hood which now appears to be the bird photographed below. This individual was present today as of 3:30 pm - Bob Arthurs.

During this cold spell, it is worth noting some feeder activity. White-winged Crossbills are once again in the news, most especially the three birds at the Sieberling Naturealm in Summit Co. present since earlier in the week through today - Cheri & Tom Tindira. Below is an example of one of the birds, an immature male, provided by Judy Biscan.



While on the subject of White-winged Crossbills, Craig Rieker has provided a most interesting image of a young female at his feeder (where they have been sporadic all winter). No doubt, readers are aware of the eye disease afflicting House Finches. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology devotes considerable web space to the tracking of the disease. [Participate in their survey here] In the photo below, the crossbill appears to exhibit outward signs of the disease, insofar as the external damage is not unlike that seen in House Finches. Another possibility is avian pox, including facial pox whereby a wart-like protuberance may appear. To the best of our knowledge, Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis has not been detected in the White-winged Crossbill. I am interested in reader comments. Click on the image for an additional view.

A final? blast of winter on the North Coast has made for ideal gulling conditions. The north breeze off the lake, coupled with warm water outflow from the power plant at E72nd St. on the Cleveland lakefront made for a feeding frenzy for some 8000 gulls. From 10:15 to 1:15pm, myself and Tom LePage watched the throng pass by, detecting 3 Glaucous Gulls, 3 Iceland Gulls, 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, among others. The adjacent boat basin was home to 1600+ Bonaparte's Gulls. It took a little while, but Tom found the adult Black-headed Gull sitting on one of the many posts along the docks. The birds were somewhat distant for photography but here are some examples. The Black-headed was about 50 yards away so I had to enlarge that image a bit (I'm still not digital yet).

ABOVE:There has been some conflicting reports on the extent of the hood. It appears to be largely restricted to the facial area, giving the impression of a mask. Part of the discrepancy may be molt. The Conneaut bird of a couple of years ago took 9 days to go from no hood to full hood. If following a similar progression, this bird could be complete in 3-4 days. I was surprised to see a half-dozen Bonaparte's Gulls very far along in their molt. One bird had clearly attained 1st summer plumage. My previous early date for this molt progress for this species on the Cleveland lakefront was 26 March just a few years ago.

BELOW:One of the adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls. March is a time of encountering this species in high breeding plumage in Ohio; always a smart looking bird with far richer colors than I have conveyed here. Field guides continue to proffer April as the advent for this plumage. One can annually see examples in Ohio the first week of March and occasionally the first half of February - matching the early appearance of full nuptial plumage in Herring Gulls around the Lake Erie islands. Local larophiles may wish to go the next step in gull ID and maintain a knowledge bank on the timing of molt in local forms.

The extreme weekend weather brought a wide array of species to the attention of birders across the state. For rarest, one needed to be once again birding the Fairport Harbor area; no stranger to peculiar birds the first third of March. Pomarine Jaeger and Black-headed Gull were most prominent among the highlights - Larry Rosche et al. Other gulls included Lesser Black-backed, Glaucous, Iceland, and yesterday 4 Little Gulls - John Pogacnik et al. Larry further reports on the 10th Cleveland's earliest arrival of the Great Egret.

Six Greater White-fronted Geese were still present at Killdeer Plains W.A. last Thursday - Chris & Dave Barnett.

Early songbird arrivals this weekend were led by a Hermit Thrush at Headlands Beach State Park Saturday - Kevin Metcalf. While Song Sparrows were migrating at Headlands Beach State Park, the widespread arrival of Fox Sparrow yesterday was not apparent in the northeast. The greatest Fox Sparrow concentration was reported from the Magee Marsh/Ottawa N.W.R. area yesterday - Bill Whan et al. where 10+ were sighted. Fox Sparrows elsewhere yesterday included individuals at a Tiffin (Seneca Co.) feeder - V.W.F.III, an Erie County feeder - Sheryl Young, and at North Chagrin (Cuyahoga Co.) - Kevin Metcalf. The species was on the Ohio State Univ. campus Friday - Dave Horn. Two early birds appeared at the feeder at Highbanks MP in Delaware Co. on the 3rd - Joe Hammond. In all Bill reports 100 sparrows on the Bird Trail at Magee Marsh. I can vouch for the timing of this fallout as I was on the Bird Trail briefly between rain bands the previous afternoon. While the trail had birds, in sharp contrast to a week earlier, they were limited to 8 Song Sparrows, 6 Dark-eyed Juncos, an 17 American Tree Sparrows. Nearby Ottawa N.W.R. was host to appx. 6000 blackbirds with 10% or more made up of Rusty Blackbirds. An Eastern Towhee was identified as a migrant on the 7th at Cherrybottom Park - Rob Thorn.

Also arriving in recent days were Eastern Phoebe, Tree Swallow, Common Snipe, and resident Sandhill Cranes. On the 7th, Greg Emmert had a pair of Sandhill Cranes along Willow Rd. near Burbank on the Medina/Wayne Co. border. The pair at Sandy Ridge MP were noted Friday - Dante Giancola. Did they ever leave? An Eastern Phoebe was discovered this morning on the Hockhocking Bikepath (Athens Co.) - Bob Scott Placier, while a bird was found yesterday on Wagner-Riffle Rd. in Adams Co. - Jay Lehman. Two Tree Swallows were new at Highbanks Metro park on Saturday - Joe Hammond. They were beat out by an earnest flyby at The Hill of Maumee Bay State Park Friday - Lee Garling & Bob Bell. Yesterday, multiple waves of birds were dropping in over the lake at Spring Valley W.A. over the course of my 3 hrs there. The largest flock was of 34 birds. The flocks would appear suddenly with no discernible origin such as a nearby roost tree, whirl about the waters surface for a couple of minutes, only to depart just as suddenly. The flocks varied from 8-20 other than the single group of 34. I suspect about 75+ birds were involved. This was a surprising number until I learned that the lake hosted 15 birds on the 8th - Jeff Brown et al. A Common Snipe past the The Hill is the second shorebird species noted in the northwest thus far. One appeared at Miami Whitewater Wetlands (Hamilton Co.) the same day - David Russell. But 30 the next day at the VOA property in Butler Co. is a noteworthy number this early - Steve Bobonick and Dave Helm.

On the raptor front, Lee Garling reported 46 Red-shouldered Hawks over Maumee Bay State Park Friday. The other raptor highlight was a Snowy Owl flying in off the water. On Saturday, after the BSBO shorebird meeting, I toyed with the idea of investigating Mike Bolton's report of a Black Vulture along Corduroy Rd. in Jerusalem Twp. (seen that morning) however the side-ways rain put a damper on that notion. This extra-limital report is highly reminiscent of the 4 March record from the NW last year. Well within the range of the species, Rob Thorn reported last week the Granville roost was up to 45 birds. At The Wilds, Jason Larson finally caught up with his first Ohio Golden Eagle locating the adult that has been present all winter. Steve Bobonick and Dave Helm report 4+ Short-eared Owls still in residence at the VOA property in Butler County (see photo below). Multiple Long-eared and Northern Saw-whet Owls are still being reported from Killdeer Plains W.A., where Saturday Kent Ostermiller also counted a season high 20 Northern Harriers. One of the over-wintering Merlins at Spring Grove Cemetery was still present on the 9th - Lori Brumbaugh. It is very rare indeed to have winter residents of that species in place when resident Ospreys have arrived on the scene. However, that is just what we have this weekend as Jason Larson reports the Osprey pair back at Salt Fork State Park (Guernsey Co.). This is the earliest report I have received for a return of the residents. Observers familiar with other nest sites would do well to check on their resident pairs. Birders are reminded that the expected arrival of migrant Ospreys is 5 April.

In contrast to these early spring migrants, Sheryl Young's feeder yesterday hosted the last vestiges of winter, a Common Redpoll and White-winged Crossbill.

My principal ornithological endeavour at the moment is preparing several issues of Ohio Birds & Natural History for publication. Subscriptions to this print publication are the only source of support for this website.

Here is a red morph Eastern Screech-Owl photographed recently by Tom Uhlman on Cincinnati's west side.

Tom also has kindly supplied this recent photograph of one of the Short-eared Owls occupying the Voice-of-America property in Butler Co. this winter.

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maintained by Victor W. Fazio III / last modified 26 Nov. 2000