The blackbirds are back!!
PGBird
While it's still 23 days until the first day of spring as I write
this, the number of blackbird sightings I've heard in the past couple
days are a good indication that spring is definitely on the way. I
can see the shoots of bulbs poking up in my garden, the amount of bird
song is increasing, and the days are getting noticably longer! Soon
we'll be able to look for skunk cabbage in bloom and listen for spring
peepers and watch for ducks moving back into the area.
I've just returned from a vacation in South Texas that included a 5
day Exploritas (new name of Elderhostel) birding program along the
upper Rio Grande River -- WOW! I had about 150 birds for the trip and
35 of them were new life birds for me. That was many more than I
expected and several were quite thrilling. The high point of the trip
was a boat trip into Aransas National Wildlife Refuge to see some of
the wintering whooping cranes -- we saw about 25 altogether in
scattered groups. What a magnificent bird! My other favorites were
the Vermilion Flycatchers -- eyepopping color! Seeing so many ducks
and shorebirds on their wintering grounds was a delight -- the numbers
amazed me! We had several opportunities for good comparisons of
closely related species -- blue-wing, green-wing, and cinnamon teal in
the same scope view; least and pied-billed grebe in the same scope
view; long-billed curlews and whimbels feeding together; brown and
white pelicans in the same marshes; 3 different orioles on a feeder at
the same time; and on and on it goes!
I also appreciated being a birding student for a change -- it gave me
some new perspectives about birding with a group that I hope will have
a positive impact on the way I lead and teach birding back here in
Ohio. And I'm determined to get more comfortable with using a
scope!!!
So it's time to clean your binoculars and start reviewing your
favorite bird guide. The birds will be arriving before we know it.
Lake Metroparks Weekday Spring Bird Walks season will begin in March
at Veterans Park in Mentor and focus on waterfowl. We changed the
date to Wednesday, 3/17 (9 to 11 a.m.) since it doesn't look like the
pond will be open yet on the 3rd. No open water equals no ducks.
There will also be a Bird Walk at the Glen on Saturday, March 13 from
8 to 9:30 a.m. You can register for either or both of these free
programs by going to www.lakemetroparks.com, enter "birding" in the
search box at the upper right corner of the home page, and use the on-
line registration link to access a list of birding programs. Joining
us for one of these programs will start to shake out the dust and get
you primed for migration birding!
See you in the field!!
Mary Huey
Interpretive Naturalist
Lake Metroparks
mh...@lakemetroparks.com