There's love in the air!!

[PGBird]

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

There's love in the air!! That's anthropomorphizing -- giving animals
human characteristics -- because I doubt that birds "fall in love".
They are just looking for the best mate for the job!

Our Wednesday morning bird walk at Chagrin River Park last week
illustrated that beautifully! We found Cedar Waxwings and Yellow
Warblers building nests, we spotted a Baltimore Oriole nest, and we
watched the courting displays of at least 4 male Bobolinks up on the
grassland. A walk through the Big Creek valley in Girdled Road
Reservation last Tuesday yielded calling Louisiana Waterthrush and
Hooded Warblers and we flushed Green and Great Blue Herons up off the
pond at the south end of the park.

It's so interesting to observe all these unique behaviours that I
don't want to stop birding even though migration is winding down. We
often lose interest because the birds of summer often aren't as
exciting as the birds of spring but there's always some new or
surprising behaviour to be observed. My most unique observation this
spring is a Robin who discovered he could get to the suet feeder by
sitting on the platform feeder. Now that the suet is gone, I've seen
him chugging down safflower seeds -- I hope he isn't trying to feed
them to his kids because I doubt they have the right equipment for
eating seeds.

The summer season brings a new list of bird walks and trips. If you
don't have the Summer edition of Parks Plus, you can stop by
Penitentiary Glen Nature Center to pick one up or drop me an e-mail
(mh...@lakemetroparks.com) and I'll send you the Birding Flyer with
the summer events. The next Wednesday morning birdwalk will start at
the south entrance (on Radcliffe Rd. off Rt. 608) of Girdled Road
Reservation at 8 a.m. on June 10. Veteran leader Paul and Sue
Belanger will be leading the group and this is a good park for summer
breeding birds including scarlet tanagers and indigo buntings with
lots of other possibilities.

On Saturday, June 27, Dan Donaldson and myself will be taking a group
to Wayne County, Ohio to visit several unique habitats -- Brown Lake
Bog and Johnson Woods. We will be looking at the unique aspects of
these habitats while enjoying the birds and flora of each one. There
are a couple openings remaining and you can join us by calling
440-358-7275. The cost is $40 and we'll be stopping at an Amish
resturant for lunch!

So keep on birding!! And I'll see you out there!

Mary Huey
Interpretive Naturalist
Lake Metroparks
mh...@lakemetroparks.com