TNA posting March 26, 2007
Magee Marsh birds seen in the past week by several birders.
1. Trumpeter Swans - several small groups being very vocal!!!
2. Tundra Swans - the large flocks are getting smaller by the day.
3. Canada Geese - many
4. Mallards
5. N. Shovelers
6. Ring-necked Ducks
7. Gadwall
8. Lesser Scaup
9. Green-winged Teal
10. Blue-winged Teal
11. A. Wigeon
12. Hooded Mergansers
13. Common Mergansers
14. A. Coots - population is growing
15. Pied-billed Grebe - 2
16. Bald Eagles - seen everyday
17. Red-tailed Hawks
18. Red-shouldered Hawks - migrating through
19. Turkey Vulture
20. American Kestrel - 1
21. Killdeer - many now.
22. Tree Swallows - numbers growing everyday
23. Great Egrets - 3
24. Great Blue Herons - 6
25. Eastern Phoebe - 4 on the boardwalk + others!
26. Golden-crowned Kinglets - more each day, boardwalk
27. Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
28. Carolina & Winter Wrens - boardwalk
29. American Woodcock - close-up on boardwalk at 18
30. Brown Creeper - on boardwalk
31. B.C. Chickadee - loop trail
32. Downy, Flicker, & Y.B. Sapsucker - boardwalk
33. Hermit Thrush , A. Robins - boardwalk
34. E. Bluebird - tower
35. Y.R. Warbler - 1st warbler of the year for Magee Marsh!!! (boardwalk)
36. E. Towhee, N. Cardinals
37. A. Tree, Song, Field, White-throated, Chipping, and Swamp Sparrows
38. D.E. Juncos
39. Short-eared Owl - causeway in the evening
40. Rusty Blackbirds - boardwalk
41. Red-winged Blackbirds & Grackles- everywhere now
42. Ring-billed & Herring Gulls
43. Wood Ducks - more each day
44. N. Pintails - 1 or 2 still (flyovers now)
Its good to be back working at Magee Marsh for my third year. Chris Knoll
---
listserv March 26
Subject: Magee area Fox Sparrows
From: Kenn Kaufman
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:42:46 -0400
The Lake Erie shoreline in northwestern Ohio at the end of March has to be
the best place and time in the world for seeing Fox Sparrows. Today (Monday
March 26th), Rick Nirschl reported seeing or hearing about 70 Fox Sparrows
along the bird trail at Magee Marsh. I only spent a brief time along the
west end of the boardwalk so I only saw about 20 Fox Sparrows there, but I
had another 50-plus in thickets along the Wildlife Beach, about a
quarter-mile east of the east end of the boardwalk. So there are clearly a
lot of individuals around. This kind of concentration would be considered
quite unusual in most places; Fox Sparrow is usually uncommon everywhere,
seen in small numbers, seldom more than a dozen in a day.
The last couple of springs at this time I've been interested to see how the
migrating Fox Sparrows are concentrated along the immediate lake shore.
Even a mile or two to the south, far fewer individuals are seen. These
migrant birds seem quite shy, flushing well away from the boardwalk at
Magee, so it takes some careful attention to even notice that they're
around, but they're beautiful enough to be worth the effort. Today a
number of the Fox Sparrows were doing partial versions of their musical,
haunting song, even in what I could only describe as the heat of the
afternoon.
Kenn Kaufman
Rocky Ridge, Ohio
-----
listserv March 26
Subject: Ottawa County Pectorals and others
From: Kenn Kaufman
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:24:03 -0400
In Ottawa County (n.w. Ohio), just east of the entrance to Crane Creek State
Park and Magee Marsh Wildlife Area along Route 2, Benton-Carroll Road takes
off to the south. Just south of Rt 2 on both sides of Benton-Carroll is an
area that floods regularly and is often good for shorebirds and other
waterbirds. Today (Monday March 26), in addition to various ducks (such as
Hooded Merganser, not your typical flooded-field bird), there were five
species of shorebirds: about 10 Killdeer, 2 Wilson's Snipe, 5 Greater
Yellowlegs, 9 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 3 Pectoral Sandpipers. None of these
is unexpected for the date, as all should be here by late March. Eastern
Meadowlarks (at least 2) were calling from the adjacent fields. In a
partially flooded field just to the south I saw at least 300 Rusty
Blackbirds along with Red-wings and others. It seemed like a plausible spot
to look for Brewer's Blackbird, but in a careful study I couldn't pull out
even one Brewer's.
Pectoral Sandpiper merits an additional comment because it's in a different
category from most of our early spring migrants. Across all groups of
birds, most of the species that come north early are those that spend the
winter relatively close to us: most ducks, geese, Killdeers, American
Woodcocks, Eastern Phoebes, Tree Swallows, Red-winged and Rusty Blackbirds,
Yellow-rumped Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, etc., etc., all are common in
winter in the southeastern United States. For that matter, so are Wilson's
Snipes and Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. Pectoral Sandpiper, on the other
hand, doesn't winter regularly anywhere north of the Equator -- its main
wintering range is in southern South America. It may show up in the same
damp fields as Killdeer and snipe, but chances are it has come ten times as
far to be here. The breeding range of Pectoral Sandpiper is mostly above
the Arctic Circle, so it's hard to understand why it starts north so early.
It's especially interesting to compare its timing to that of White-rumped
Sandpiper, which has similar wintering and breeding ranges but migrates
north much later; peak numbers of White-rumpeds here may occur in the first
week of June! At any rate, among our early migrants, Pectoral Sandpipers
(and the American Golden-Plovers that should follow shortly) deserve special
credit as our first arrivals from truly southern latitudes.
Kenn Kaufman
Rocky Ridge, Ohio
----
TNA posting March 26
A few new arrivals today. Brown Thrasher singing at the entrance to Magee off Rt. 2, and on the bird trail, Hermit Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Swamp Sparrows.
Other birds on the bird trail: ~ 70 Fox Sparrows, 5 Winter Wrens, 3 Sapsuckers, 10 Brown Creepers, 6 Phoebes, 3 Towhees ( all males ), 1 Woodcock, Rusty Blackbirds, lots of Flickers, Golden-crowned Kinglets, White-throated Sparrow and Chipping Sparrow.
Duck numbers are down considerably but there was a good flight of raptors.
Butterflies today: Mourning Cloak and Eastern Comma.
----
Subject: Kelleys Island Monthly census 3/26/2007
From: Tom Bartlett
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 10:04:26 -0400
Monday, March 26, 2007 Sandy Tkach and I conducted the Kelleys Island
monthly census. This is the first day the ferry to the island has run since
late January, so this is why the census is about a week later than normal.
But the wait was worth it. What a day for birding. Wind was out of the
SW-W at 10-20 mph, partly cloudy and temperature in the high 60's low 70's.
Birds were singing everywhere and raptors were moving. It must have been a
great day on the hawk tower at Crane Creek. We had 44 raptors of 8 species
just on the census route. The March count has averaged 53 species over the
last nine years with a previous high of 62 species (2005). Today we had 74
species which now moves the average to 55 species for a March count. The
only new species added to the March count list was Gadwall. 98 species have
been observed on March counts over the last 10 years.
20 Horned Grebe
38 Double-crested Cormorant
7 Great Blue Heron
97 Canada Goose
3 Wood Duck
2 Gadwall
3 American Black Duck
55 Mallard
1 Mallard X Am. Black Duck
141 Redhead
6 Ring-necked Duck
4 Greater Scaup
119 Lesser Scaup
272 Bufflehead
905 Common Goldeneye
8 Hooded Merganser
11 Common Merganser
626 Red-breasted Merganser
20 Turkey Vulture
4 Bald Eagle
4 Northern Harrier
8 Sharp-shinned Hawk
9 Cooper's Hawk
13 Red-shouldered Hawk
3 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Rough-legged Hawk
1 American Kestrel
2 American Coot
22 Killdeer
1 American Woodcock
3 Bonaparte's Gull
23 Ring-billed Gull
302 Herring Gull
24 Great Black-backed Gull
10 Mourning Dove
1 Eastern Screech-Owl
3 Belted Kingfisher
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
3 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
17 Downy Woodpecker
32 Northern Flicker
10 Eastern Phoebe
1 Blue Jay
57 American Crow
9 Horned Lark
66 Tree Swallow
44 Black-capped Chickadee
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
17 Brown Creeper
4 Carolina Wren
1 Winter Wren
119 Golden-crowned Kinglet
9 Eastern Bluebird
1 Hermit Thrush
688 American Robin
2 Brown Thrasher
206 European Starling
4 American Pipit
4 Yellow-rumped Warbler
38 Northern Cardinal
3 Eastern Towhee
2 American Tree Sparrow
8 Fox Sparrow
20 Song Sparrow
4 White-throated Sparrow
108 Dark-eyed Junco
45 Lapland Longspur
1133 Red-winged Blackbird
1 Eastern Meadolark
13 Rusty Blackbird
1872 Common Grackle
32 Brown-headed Cowbird
147 House Finch
4 American Goldfinch
63 House Sparrow
7545 Total individuals
74 Species plus one hybrid
Subject: Crane Creek Hawk Tower 3/30/07
From: Tom Bartlett
Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2007 10:41:02 -0400
On Friday, I manned the hawk tower from 0820-1500. Winds were out of the NE
to N all day but light. Evidently, not light enough as almost no raptors
were moving along the lake front. All migrant raptors observed were well
south of the tower except for the Merlin which was right to the north of the
tower. Below is the list of what was observed from the tower during that
time period.
In addition, an adult male Yellow-headed Blackbird was observed singing (if
you can call what comes out of their mouth a song) in the grasses to the
east of the bridge along the causeway around 0800.
17 Canada Goose
2 Trumpeter Swan
18 Wood Duck
123 Gadwall
19 American Wigeon
5 American Black Duck
103 Mallard
9 Blue-winged Teal
11 Northern Shoveler
5 Northern Pintail
29 Green-winged Teal
4 Redhead
2 Lesser Scaup
4 Hooded Merganser
7 Common Merganser
3 Pied-billed Grebe
19 Double-crested Cormorant
8 Great Blue Heron
4 Great Egret
40 Turkey Vulture (all migrants)
5 Bald Eagle (all locals)
3 Red-tailed Hawk (2 migrants)
1 Merlin (one dark migrant)
1 Virginia Rail
1 Sora
13 American Coot
3 Sandhill Crane (2 + 1; all moving east)
14 American Golden Plover
2 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Lesser Yellowlegs
123 Pectoral Sandpiper
2 Bonaparte's Gull
23 Ring-billed Gull
47 Herring Gull
8 Mourning Dove
2 Belted Kingfisher
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
4 Downy Woodpecker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
20 Northern Flicker
2 Eastern Phoebe
3 Blue Jay
13 American Crow
3 Horned Lark
35 Tree Swallow
3 Black-capped Chickadee
2 Carolina Wren
1 Winter Wren
14 Golden-crowned Kinglet
24 American Robin
12 European Starling
3 Yellow-rumped Warbler
1 Eastern Towhee
9 American Tree Sparrow
23 Fox Sparrow
8 Song Sparrow
4 Swamp Sparrow
7 Dark-eyed Junco
8 Snow Bunting
150+ Red-winged Blackbird
35+ Rusty Blackbird
75+ Common Grackle
45+ Brown-headed Cowbird
7 Northern Cardinal
7 House Finch
13 American Goldfinch
8 House Sparrow
Subject: Magee Marsh Birds
From: "Warren, Mary"
Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:55:10 -0400
Birds seen by birders at the Marsh today; very cold and windy!!!
1. Trumpeter Swans - 2; yesterday - 17 and calling!! the most ever for
me!!!
2. Great Blue Heron - 1
3. Great Egret - 1
4. D.C. Cormorant - 3
5. Pb Grebe - 3
6. Hooded Merganser - 1 pair
7. Greater Scaup - 4
8. Lesser Scaup - 3
9. Gadwall - many
10. Mallard - 6
11. Wood Duck - 1 pair
12. N. Shoveler - many
13. A. Wigeon - 1 pair
14. Blue-winged Teal - 12
15. Green-winged Teal - 25
16. Canada Geese - many
17. A. Coots - 1,000 +
18. Ring-billed Gulls - many
19. Herring Gull - 2
20. Bonaparte's Gull - 2
21. Killdeer - 1
22. Wilson's Snipe - 1 new for the year !!
26. Northern Flicker
27. Hermit Thrush
28. Winter Wren
29. Gray Catbird - 1 new for the year
31. Golden-crowned Kinglets - everywhere!
32. Fox Sparrows
33. D.E. Juncos - at the feeders
34. Song Sparrows
35. N. Cardinals
36. Red-winged Blackbirds - huge flocks now
37. Rusty Blackbirds - deep in today; heard them only!
38. C. Grackles
39. A. Robin
40. Canvasbacks - yesterday with the Clay High School students.
41. Sandhill Crane - 1 yesterday with the Clay High School students
Birds seen at the Marsh late in the day!!
1. Caspian Terns - 2 first of the year!!
2. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker -1
3. Yellow-rumped Warbler - several !!!
4. Ruby-crowned Kinglet -1
5. Belted Kingfisher -1
6. Brown-headed Cowbirds - feeders
7. House Finch - feeders
8. A. Goldfinch - feeders
9. House Sparrows - feeders
Thank you very much for stopping in and letting us know what you see.
Chris
Subject: Metzger gnatcatchers and Gadwalls
From: Kenn Kaufman
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2007 00:51:22 -0400
With limited time this evening (Monday April 2) I ran out to the end of the
road at Metzger Marsh (Lucas Co., east of Toledo). Saw a handful of
expected migrants in the small woodlot there, such as 5 Yellow-rumped
Warblers, 2 Brown Creepers, 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 1 Winter Wren.
Surprised to see two Blue-gray Gnatcatchers there, male and female, foraging
more or less together. Matt Anderson et al. in "Birds of the Toledo Area"
give the early record locally as April 3, while the early record listed by
Larry Rosche in "Birds of the Cleveland Region" is March 31, so April 2nd
seems about right for the very first migrants to appear -- possibly early
overshoots, a week or two ahead of the main migration.
On the way out I scanned the open waters of the marsh for ducks. I had
checked Metzger several times this spring in hopes of a Eurasian Wigeon, but
even American Wigeons have seemed to be in low numbers. However, I was
surprised (because I hadn't seen Vic Fazio's post yet) by the prevalence of
Gadwalls. They were by far the most numerous waterfowl there, and when I
did a careful sweep with the scope I came up with a conservative count of
about 1320 Gadwalls, outnumbering all the other ducks combined. (When I
checked the listserve later, I saw that Vic had estimated 850-plus here the
day before, even without the benefit of a scope.) These are far higher
numbers than what have been published in the past and I presume there's
something unusual going on with the species this spring. Peterjohn's "The
Birds of Ohio" mentions that aerial counts in November in the western Lake
Erie marshes have had totals as high as 1700 Gadwalls, but these aerial
surveys cover a lot of area, and to have 1300-plus visible from one spot on
the ground implies that exceptional numbers are present.
Kenn Kaufman
==========Subject: Sandusky Bay region
From: Victor Fazio
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2007 19:03:00 -0700
On the way back to Shaker Heights, I toured
the Sandusky Bay Region.
Ohms Rd (CR 265) off Rt. 6 just west of
Pickerel Creek W.A. in Sandusky County.
These private wetlands are quickly assessed
and are occasionally interesting in early spring.
at 8:00 am ...
Canada Goose - 11 (one on nest)
Trumpeter Swan - 2 (1A7 & one of the M class)
- the species nests here and chicks may be
photographed close by from the car.
Wood Duck - 3
Gadwall - 34
Mallard - 12
Blue-winged Teal - 18
American Wigeon - 38
Northern Shoveler - 64
Northern Pintail - 4
Green-winged Teal - 57
Ring-necked Duck - 1
Common Merganser - 24
Hooded Merganser - 4
Bonaparte's Gull - 110
Killdeer - 4
Wilson's Snipe - 7
Brown Thrasher - 1
Swamp Sparrow - 9 singing
moving west along CR 265 brings one to
Three Eagles Wetland Mitigation or so it was
once called. I now see a DOW wildlife area
sign present with a now legal pull-off. From the
road, I noted
Canada Goose - 2
Ring-necked Duck - 84
and just beyond is what promises to be one of
the more substantial wetland restorations in
Sandusky County. What I have been calling
Yellow Swale Wildlife Area for lack of an
official designation (correct me if I'm wrong)
currently involves two completed impoundments
holding water. Today I saw a half dozen adjacent
properties with survey markers. Two of these
were in the throws of being dug out with the
earthen mounds that look to be incipient levees.
The two existing wetlands (which form already a much
larger series as they are contiguous with substantial
private wetland acreage to the N) held this morning ...
Canada Goose - 5
Trumpeter Swan - 5
Gadwall - 2
Mallard - 2
American Wigeon - 2
Northern Shoveler - 4
Green-winged Teal - 2
Pied-billed Grebe - 1
Bald Eagle - 4
Wilson's Snipe - 1
Pickerel Creek W.A. - Headquarters Rd. (CR 254)
The marsh here, after going through a much needed
rehabilitation a couple of years ago, looks as good
as new.
Canada Goose - 26
Gadwall - 34
Mallard - 8
Northern Shoveler - 4
Blue-winged Teal - 11
American Wigeon - 1
Green-winged Teal - 36
Bald Eagle - 2
Killdeer - 1
Wilson's Snipe - 10
Great Blue Heron - 26
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Pickerel Creek from the Obs. Tower along Rt. 6
Canada Goose - 22
Mallard - 3
Northern Shoveler - 12
Blue-winged Teal - 16
Green-winged Teal - 6
Ring-necked Duck - 3
Common Merganser - 6
Hooded Merganser - 7
Bald Eagle - 4
Bonaparte's Gul - 170
Killdeer - 4
Greater Yellowlegs - 9
Lesser Yellowlegs - 1
already suitable water depth for yellowlegs ...
worth checking ... by 1 May this could be
suitable for peeps ... but I suspect a full
walkaround will be in order to asses the
shorebird presence given the height of the
vegetation. Also looks good for ibis.
Medusa Marsh
Mute Swan - 12
Gadwall - 57
Blue-winged Teal - 14
American Wigeon - 12
Green-winged Teal - 20
Bufflehead - 8
Red-breasted Merganser - 8
Great Blue Heron - 4
Great Egret - 14
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 1
American Coot - 240
Bonaparte's Gull - 170
Pectoral Sandpiper - 140 (winging overhead to the ENE)
Rt 269 N exit (off Rt. 2 - NW end of Sandusky bay bridge)
roughly ...
Redhead - 6
Lesser Scaup - 1350
Greater Scaup - 50
Double-creasted Cormorant - 50
Bonaparte's Gull - 600
Ring-billed Gull - 1400
Herring Gull - 100
East Harbor State Park .... held more scaup within
its harbors than I have previously seen in 25 years
of visiting this time of the year.
Mute Swan - 8
Canada Goose - 114
Wood Duck - 22
(hanging around a set of nest boxes that
appeared newly placed)
Mallard - 2
Red-breasted Merganser - 180
Merganser spp. - 200 (fairly distant in the sun)
Scaup spp. - 9800 (95% Lesser. 5% Greater)
this ratio has been more typical of a month earlier
in recent years ... but I spent some time
watching the many birds skittering out of the
way of newcomers vying for an open patch of
water. Of the total,
7000 occupied Middle Harbor, 1800 were off
the beach on Lake Erie, and the remainder were
on East Harbor. Scoping through the mass on
Middle Harbor, I picked out 210 Redhead.
Such a concentration out on Sandusky Bay in
early April would be trivial, but close inshore,
gleaming in the sun ... quite impressive.
Over the park, and Catawba Island, kettles of
Turkey Vultures numbered not less than 100
birds at one time.
cheers
Vic Fazio
Shaker Heights, OH
Subject: Metzger Marsh yesterday 1 April
From: Victor Fazio
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2007 18:06:43 -0700
Nothing special to report ... just some notes
from the afternoon spent looking about for
shorebird habitat.
a brief survey of Metzger from the causeway
only under wind conditions precluding the use of
a scope, I had ...
Mute Swan - 4
Trumpeter Swan - 18
Mallard - 150+
Gadwall - 850+
Northern Pintail - 25
Northern Shoveler - 75
Green-winged Teal - 180+
Horned Grebe - 9
Pied-billed Grebe - 3
American Coot - 1850+
Great Egret - 2
Tree Swallow - 120
Ottawa and adjacent Lucas County fields
are mostly dry.
Park Colony Rd (just west of Reno on the Beach)
may be remembered by some for the good spring
shorebirding there in the 90's. Tiling in 2002
reduced flooding of the fields substantially. There
was enough standing water yesterday to attract ...
Wood Duck - 12
Gadwall - 9
Mallard - 90
American Black - 12
Blue-wiged Teal - 2
American Wigeon - 135
Northern Pintail - 4
Bonaparte's Gull - 4
Ring-billed Gull - 150
Killdeer - 4
perhaps worth a look over the next
week or two.
Benton-Carroll (just off Rt. 2) is not nearly
as waterlogged as has been the case the past
10 years. And the vegetation is as thick as
I have seen this early in the season. There were
only 8 Greater and 1 Lesser Yellowlegs present
yesterday.
When passing Turtle Creek (from the east)
or approaching (from the west) on Rt. 2, it may be
worth a moment of your time to turn off on Bodi
... the moist exposed soil there may attract some
plovers in the near future.
Otherwise, I have nothing else to recommend in the
immediate vicinity of the Ottawa/Magee complex.
This suggests, barred new flooding, that the planned
draw-down of a unit at Ottawa NWR and the executed
draw-down at Magee will be crucial for both shorebird
and birder alike this spring.
cheers
Vic Fazio
Shaker Heights, OH
PS> Lake Erie water levels in the Western Basin
are as high as I have seen since 1995-96.
Subject: Magee Marsh Birds today
From: "Warren, Mary"
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2007 17:40:38 -0400
Birds seen at Magee Marsh by birders today
1. Great Egrets - 3
2. Great Blue Heron - 3
3. P.b. Grebe - several
4. A. Coots - too many to count
5. N. Shoveler
6. Lesser Scaup
7. Gadwall
8. Mallard
9. Green-winged Teal
10. Blue-winged Teal
11. Hooded Merganser
12. Wood Duck
13. Ring-necked Duck
14. Red-tailed Hawk - hawk watch group on tower
15. Red-shouldered Hawk - hawk watch group
16. N. Harrier - on the causeway
17. Sharp-shinned Hawk - hawk watch group
18. Bald Eagle - hawk watch group
19. Red-bellied Woodpecker
20. N. Flicker
21. Downy Woodpecker
22. Eastern Phoebe
23. Eastern Kingbird - 3 late in day on causeway!! first of the year
here!!
24. Blue jay
25. American Crow
26. Tree Swallow
27. Hermit Thrush
28. American Robin
29. G.C. & R.C. Kinglet
30. Brown Thrasher - heard
31. E. Palm Warbler - 2 early in day - boardwalk, 2nd warbler species
for the marsh this year!
32. Yellow-rumped Warbler - several now
33. Eastern Towhee - male and female
34. INDIGO BUNTING - 1 male on boardwalk late in the day!!! First of the
year; early?
35. D.E. Junco - feeders
36. Song, Swamp, Fox, A. Tree Sparrows
37. RWBB, C. Grackles, Rusty Blackbirds.
38. Winter & Carolina Wrens
39. Gray Catbird - seen late in the day.
Friday 3/30/07 A YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD - was seen from the Tower
Just put it on our board. Sorry, we didn't find-out until today about
the bird !!!!
Please let us know at the center when you find new birds for the year so
we can
put them on the board right way. Thank you very much. Chris Knoll
Mary L. Warren
ODNR-Division of Wildlife
Naturalist
Magee Marsh Wildlife Area
13229 W. SR 2 Oak Harbor, OH 43449
419-898-0960 #31
419-898-4017 Fax
