Crane Creek

So I am at Crane Creek this weekend. It is located in northern Ohio just West of Port Clinton on Lake Erie. It is a birding hot spot in Ohio and when the spring migration is in full swing it is a wondrous time. The warblers that drop in look like Christmas ornaments hanging from the trees. you can get within a couple of feet of them and get the greatest looks.

We started our trip on the 25th of April and started at Hueston Woods State Park. when we were done there we had 40+ species of birds either seen or heard. the biggest most impressive thing that we saw was the Cerulean Warbler. Only the second time I had seen one in my life. It was pretty impressive.

From Hueston Woods we continued on to north to Celina to find the Eurasian Collared Dove. We found it. Only the second time I have ever seen this bird too, the first time was in Brownsville Texas in 2008. We stopped for lunch at Wendy’s I had a Spicy Chicken Sandwich and Iced Tea. From here we took off to find the Smith’s Longspurs.

This was going to be a life bird for me if we could find it. as we drove around the back roads of Celina it was starting to look like we were going to miss out on this particular bird. That is until Dave stops looks out the window and jumps out of the van and says “there it is.”

-- Side Story--

I have known Dave now for nearly three and half years. He has taught me a lot about how to bird how to band birds and basic rules of  life (never to old to learn). the one thing that I have learned over these years I have come to learn that Dave has hearing abilities that no normal human could possess. I really believe that the man could be in the middle of a roaring river and hear a chip note from a Northern Parula. He can hear a bird a 100 yards ID it and go find in under five minutes. It is absolutely incredible when he does this. I have learned to trust in Dave’s hearing ability and it is truly amazing.

--Back to the trip--

So Dave lets us know that we should be looking for a plant, weed actually, called foxtail. so we looked around the clumps of foxtail in an agriculture field. It wasn’t long after that we found them. there were several that were in and amongst the foxtails. It was a spectacular bird. it was almost completely in its breeding plumage. they were awesome! I couldn’t believe that I had another life bird.

-- Explanation--

A Life bird is a bird that you have never seen before. it is really important for a lister like my self. A lister is someone who keeps a record of the birds they have seen in their life. I should add up how many i have for the U.S. soon, I will let you all know soon. I am hoping to be somewhere in the 200’s. I will keep you all up to date because i am hoping to in crease my list while at Acadia.

--The story continues--

we stayed for about a half hour following the birds in this ag-field.

It was time to continue on, we got back to 75n and headed to Sandusky and Magee Marsh. it was a long trip but worth it. we got there around five or six. We started by traveling around the area to various hot spots. The two Highlights of this part of the day was a field full of shore birds and and walking the first quarter of the boardwalk at Magee Marsh. We then went for Pizza Hut and turned in for the night around 2230. The next morning that started at 0600 with breakfast in the lobby and a run over the Mawmee looking for Avocets that had dropped in the night before. We struck out on those. We kept at birding for the rest of the day and finally left the area around 1700 and got back to Oxford at 2100

So there is a reason there are no pictures here, My camera lens is broken :( I was pulling it out when i was at Magee Marsh on saturday and realized that my long lens was broken. It wouldn’t focus, it was locked when in autofocus and would actuate when focused manually. I was very sad that it happened.

So here is the final birdlist for the trip: pictures are from my personal collection just to show the birds that I saw while on the trip.

--The list--

 

Snow Goose		American Crow
Canada Goose		Horned Lark
Mute Swan		Purple Martin
Trumpeter Swan		Tree Swallow
Wood Duck		Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Gadwall		Bank Swallow
American Wigeon		Barn Swallow
American Black Duck		Carolina Chickadee
Mallard		Tufted Titmouse
Blue-winged Teal		White-breasted Nuthatch
Northern Shoveler		Carolina Wren (e)
Northern Pintail		House Wren
Greater Scaup		Winter Wren
Lesser Scaup		Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Bufflehead		Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Hooded Merganser		Eastern Bluebird
Red-breasted Merganser		Veery
Ruddy Duck		Gray-cheeked Thrush
Ring-Necked Pheasant		Swainson’s Thrush
Pied-billed Grebe		Hermit Thrush
Double-crested Cormorant		Wood Thrush
American Bittern		American Robin
Great Blue Heron		Gray Catbird
Great Egret		Northern Mockingbird
Snowy Egret		Brown Thrasher
Green Heron (e)		European Starling
Black Vulture		Cedar Waxwing
Turkey Vulture		Blue-winged Warbler
Osprey		Tennessee Warbler
American Bald Eagle		Nashville Warbler
Northern Harrier		Northern Parula
Sharp-shinned Hawk		Yellow Warbler
Coopers Hawk		Chestnut-sided Warbler
Broad-winged Hawk		Magnolia Warbler
Red-Tailed Hawk		Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Kestrel		Black-throated Green Warbler
Sora		Yellow-throated Warbler
American Coot		Pine Warbler
Black-bellied Plover		Palm Warbler
American Golden Plover		Cerulean Warbler
Semipalmated Plover		Black-and-White Warbler
Killdeer		Prothonotary Warbler
Spotted Sandpiper		Worm-eating Warbler
Solitary Sandpiper		Ovenbird
Greater Yellowlegs		Northern Waterthrush
Lesser Yellowlegs		Louisiana Waterthrush
Pectoral Sandpiper		Common Yellowthroat
Dunlin		Hooded Warbler
Wilson’s Snipe		Wilson’s Warbler
Bonaparte’s Gull		Summer Tanager
Ring-billed Gull		Scarlet Tanager
Herring Gull		Eastern Towhee
Caspian Tern		Chipping Sparrow
Common Tern		Field Sparrow
Rock Pigeon		Savannah Sparrow
Eurasian Collared-dove		Song Sparrow
Mourning Dove		White-throated Sparrow
Great Horned Owl		White-crowned Sparrow
Chimney Swift		Smith’s Longspur
Belted Kingfisher		Northern Cardinal
Red-bellied Woodpecker		Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Downy Woodpecker		Indigo Bunting
Northern Flicker		Red-winged Blackbird
Pileated Woodpecker		Rusty Blackbird
Eastern Phoebe		Common Grackle
Great-crested Flycatcher		Brown-headed Cowbird
Eastern Kingbird		Baltimore Oriole
White-eyed Vireo (e)		Purple Finch
Yellow-throated Vireo		House Finch
Blue-headed Vireo		American Goldfinch
Warbling Vireo		House Sparrow
Blue Jay