One Day To The Next

Day 1 of 2

Finally, my life has returned from the strong grasp of nursing school and work; the work continues, but school is easing up. I had been a hermit for the past two weeks, couped up in my room staring at this dreadful screen and word processor, catching an occasional glimpse of the beautiful world when escaping to go play with electricity (I work for an electrician). Schoolwork had consumed my time causing an extreme lack of nature outings - that is all about to change. The weather will be warming up soon and the migrating birds will return to beautiful Northeast Ohio. Yesterday, like every Tuesday from here on out (hopefully), Doug Marcum and I headed out to do a bit of hiking and birding at one of our local favorites - Mogodore Reservoir. It was a beautiful, sunny, cool, early-spring day with an exceptionally clear sky except for a few wisps of cirrus clouds marked by the paint brush of Mother Nature. Doug and I headed into the depths of the reservoir's surrounding forest to a new location which he had came across in a previous outing.

Doug as we started out hike

As we walked the trail, Doug pointed out how this particular area of the reservoir did not resemble a typical Northeast Ohio forest, but more of a forest that would be seen in central to Southern Florida. The atypical area was marked with a good amount of Red Pine, which were posing beautifully anterior to the blue backdrop of a clear sky. The reddish bark of the tree along with the green clusters of needles stood out in an eye-popping manner. After being held hostage by my computer mouse, I could not help but take it all in and enjoy every moment of the day.

Red Pine 

Doug said that he had a surprise for me to see; something which he had came across in his previous outing in this area. He said that if I liked these trees that I would for sure like the next. It was a monster Maple Tree that had the girth of an elephant and a crevice that could eat a man. Doug, an evolved monkey, took it upon himself to climb the tree as usual. The kid can climb anything. He found himself a nice little spot to relax, a natural hammock if you will.

While in this area, we were watching Red-Winged Black Birds (RWBB) claim their territory in a marsh-like terrain with an abundance of the bird's favorite habitat - Phragmites. Back and forth, they filled the air with their call, portraying dominance at the spot which they chose for this years nesting. The marsh area weaned into the waters of the reservoir where we counted around 200 Ring-Necked Ducks. This was by far the most that I have ever seen congregated in one area, Doug too I'm sure. After observing for a while we decided to get moving along because of the dwindling daylight which was shaping up to be a nice sunset. We found a spot on the side of the road to hunker down for the remainder of the trip to the reservoir which would be a perfect view. Great Blue Herons, flocks of RWBBs, Swallows, and Gulls were flying overhead. The different waterfowl, including Ring-Necked Ducks, Scaups, Wood Ducks, Mallards, Bufflehead and Pied-Billed Grebe, were all floating in the placid waters. That is, until a Bald Eagle made its approach to a perching spot, causing a bit of chaos in the waterfowl and moving them a bit away. The majestic adult Bald Eagle is truly a sight to see; a gorgeous creature. I can't help but become full of excitement when we spot them. About 15 minutes after that Bald Eagle had made its appearance, its mate flew overhead and landed near it! 2 Bald Eagles perched next to each other- two tons the fun in one. While staring at them though my binoculars Doug pointed out the the sunset behind us that was shaping up to be amazing, and it was nothing less than that, making a perfect end to a great day of being Out and About...:

Day 2 of 2

Today, After a grueling 2 hour lecture, I once again met up with Doug to go back to Mogodore Reservoir to scope out a different area of Brimfield, Ohio's (and Portage County's in my opinion) sanctuary. The morning was beautiful; sunny and mid forty degree weather. By the time that we had gotten out of class snow was starting to fall and even accumulate. As we were pulling into the parking lot of the reservoir, Doug instantly spotted a Bald Eagle! Once again, I was excited and eager to look at it. I got my binoculars out of the trunk and focused in on it for a peek. The falling snow made it hard to get a great look at it, but it was still satisfying. Doug got out his camera and was ready to take a picture; we looked back and it was gone. This was basically the highlight of a quiet, snowy day. Other than the Bald Eagle, we saw the everyday American Crow, Northern Cardinal, Bufflehead, Ring-Necked Ducks and heard a Kinglet, Blue Jays, and Goldfinch. We treked all around a few new areas, giving us some new spots to explore once the weather becomes a bit nicer. Today was a nice day to get out and about to hike around a bit, but the snow and wind impeded wildlife activity that we would have possibly seen on a nicer day. I will leave you with a few pictures of the day.

Beach Tree overhanging Mogodore Reservoir

Doug on a fallen tree at Mogodore Reservoir

Too Cold To Swim

It has been quite some time since my last blog posting - I have been tied up with work and school unfortunately. I didn't have much time today to stray away from schoolwork, but since I was out and about I figured it would be a great opportunity to stop by Veteran's Park for a quick birding session. I was extremely under-dressed for the bitter Northeastern Ohio temperatures, but that's alright, I was only going to be out for a few minutes. I pulled into the parking lot and grabbed my spotting gear out of my trunk and proceeded into the park. Upon walking the path I heard a Kingfisher belting its rampant voice as it flew from one perch to the next. I stopped for a minute to see what the bird would do next; he (or she) left the perch, letting everyone in the park know that it was flying, then dove into the water and snagged some lunch! I then continued on to the observing deck to see what kind of migratory waterfowl was in the pond today. Doug Marcum has been telling me that there has been a wide variety of non-resident waterfowl there the past week or so. I decided to check it out for myself so I took out my binoculars and set up my spotting scope with tripod .

Barska 20 x 60 x 60mm spotting scope 

I looked through the eyepieces of the binoculars and focused in on a pluthera of dabbling and diving waterfowl. Among the group were Ring-Necked Ducks, Buffleheads, Mallards, and Redheads. After watching them for a while through the binoculars I decided to switch to the spotting scope to get an up-close view of them, even thought they were a good distance away from me. It has been one of my better purchases, coming in use many times when wanting to get a view of a distant bird. I highly recommend a spotting scope if you are wishing to observe waterfowl which you cannot get close to without scaring them away. The detail through the scope is unbelievable. You can see the Ring-Necked Duck's yellow eye, or a female Bufflehead's white spot on her cheek from a hundred plus yards away! I watched the Ring-Necked ducks dive below the surface while the mallards dabbled along the top and the Bufflehead just floated around. While watching them, the cold air and chilling wind were beginning to get to me so I decided to pack it up for the day. The water looked peaceful and calm, making me wish that summertime was closer so I could swim again. As for now, I will have to wait a few more months. The leaves will begin to come out on the trees in the next month and the world will be green again, making it more difficult to birdwatch, but I'm alright with a challenge. Soon, I will be able to go out and about and leave my jacket at home :)

Making Friends

Two Black-Capped Chickadees.

Today was a CRAZY day in Mentor, OH. First, I went to bed with no snow on the ground and woke up to about 8" of fresh powder! Unable to work, Doug and I ended up suiting up in snow gear and going "out and about" into the new winter wonderland. We came across a few birds (Black-Capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmice) in an area of dense thicket. The birds chirped and appeared to be very friendly and welcoming to their domain. Doug and I quickly became acquainted with these feathered foes. We stuck our hands out to them, and couldn't believe when they landed on our hands! We rushed back to the car to get a little bit of trail mix to feed them in this famished winter weather. When we returned to the spot there seemed to be about 15 to 20 birds ready to eat! We put a little food in our hands and had a photoshoot with the snowbirds.

Tufted Titmouse feeding from my hand.

Black-Capped Chickadee feeding from Doug's hand.

These birds were landing on us, picked a piece of fruit that appealed to it, and flew up to a branch to chow down. This went on with all the birds for at least a half of an hour...each second was amazing. Eventually I turned my hat inside out and put some mix on the brim of it and the birds would land on my head and peck at the offering. I think that the feeling of friendship was mutual between the humans and the birds today. Torn between the idea of leaving them and continuing our trek, we decided to move on and perhaps return for a quick feeding on the way back. The snow was deep, the trails were covered, and the scenery was beautiful. There is a lot to say about the appearance of pristine snow covering all that you can see, but it can all be summed up in one word - beautiful.

Doug trudges through the deep snow.

We hiked for a while and Doug showed me one of his favorite spots - the area was beautiful. Along our hike, we would relieve sagging branches from strained trees of the snow which had piled up on them during the recent snowfall. Shaking the branch, the snow would fall off and the tree would whip back into original form. They looked so much more comfortable (debates that trees have sensation). Doug climbed out on a downed tree over a pretty steep grade, I hung from tree branches; It felt as if we were kids again who were out of school because of a snow day. There were no complaints from either of us. After the hiking and trudging through snow, we returned to our new friends and offered a bit more grub to them before we left the area. They graciously accepted...

Tufted Titmouse feeding from my hand.

Tufted Titmouse feeding off of Doug's hand.

Today was an exceptional day for being out observing nature. The fresh snow, the bird feeding, the scenery - all were truly amazing. There is only one picture left to recap how I felt while being "out and about" on this snow-covered day in March..

Snow smile

Hiking With Friends

Pictured left to right: Rob, Ryan, Doug - obtaining information on a Red Oak

Tuesday, after being released from clinicals a bit early, I decided to see what Doug Marcum was planning for the rest of the day. He had informed me that he was going to a plot of woods near Kent State University's campus to work on a project for his forestry course that he is taking; He asked if I cared to join. I figured that this could be a great learning experience for me - I know nothing about forestry. On the way to the plot, Doug pointed out a Great Blue Heron rookery which I cannot wait to go peek at within the next couple weeks. Also, Doug pointed out to me that Turkey Vultures have been making their return for the past 3 weeks -  I had not seen one yet! Once he said that, It was as if that was all I would spot, one after another. I was now wanting to just go birdwatch and forget about the upcoming forestry lesson. However, I am glad to have gone because I met a couple of his friends who, along with Doug, shared great insight with me about the local species of trees growing on this plot. Also, while waiting for his colleagues to arrive Doug and I saw a Cooper's Hawk fly overhead. Once Rob and Ryan showed up the forestry lesson began. After the couple of hours spent learning about trees from the three amigos and a special appearance by their professor, I was able to differentiate between a Red Oak, White Oak, Black Oak, Cherry, Beech, Butternut Hickory, Red Maple, and Silver Maple (even though not located on this plot). The guys were marking trees, taking their diameters and heights, for a project which correlates with the forestry course. The picture above shows how they would work up each tree: Ryan is holding a measuring device used to measure diameter and height. Rob is marking the trees with the noticeable orange ribbon with correlating numbers for each tree. Doug is logging the information in his notebook. They are working on a Red Oak, with a large Beech Tree in the middle and a Cherry Tree along the right edge of the picture. 

Detail of a Cherry Tree's bark

Doug and I then ventured out of the plot around 4:30 to meet up with my friend Alex Martinelli from my nursing courses. He just so happens to be an avid outdoorsman/hiker like Doug and me. I have often told him about the outings that Doug and I go on, which he always showed interest in. I decided to ask him earlier in the day to come along with us for a hike through Towner's Woods (located in Kent, OH). So, Doug, Alex and I set out to check up on a couple of vernal pools which Doug was interested in keeping tabs on for the upcoming salamanders, wood frogs, and spring peepers (I cannot wait to hear them - the sounds of spring). 

Alex on the ground, Doug on the downed tree, vernal pool in background

It was here where I was able to give Alex his first lesson on Birds. A male Red-Bellied Woodpecker made an appearance for us to peep at through my binoculars. We watched him fly from tree to tree, having a few pecks at each one, then he flew away out of our sights. I advised Alex that the way to tell apart a male and female is from the red stripe on its head. If it connects from the back of the neck to where the beak starts, it's a male, whereas the female's stripe ends about half way up the head. We then hiked on and came across a habitat fit for a bat. So, Doug checked it out...

Doug peeps up the hallowed-out Black Oak

He found nothing but an open cavity. Who is to say that there wont be future residents, though...

View up the hallowed-out Red Oak

Alex, Doug and I continued to walk the path through Towner's Woods as it grew from late afternoon to early evening, with the temperature starting to drop. We were amused by the call of a distant Pileated Woodpecker, which would be followed by a returning call from another Pileated in the opposite direction. This is easily one of my favorite birds! We never did spot it, but I knew what it was up to. We pushed forward and Doug spotted a beaver dam at another wetland area of the park. We sat there for a bit and looked on from our bench made from a downed tree. We noticed tracks going to and fro the dam, which is evidence that there is a resident of the shelter! It's something to go back to and observe throughout the spring and summer. 

Reflection 

The following morning I was woken up by a text from my friend Jeremy Alfani letting me know that there was a flock of Hooded Mergansers in a little pond behind the rec center at Kent State. I have never been able to observe them prior to this, so even though it was raining pretty steady, I made my way out to watch them a bit. I was a nervous that they would be gone by the time that I got there and that I would be wasting time, and dry clothes for that matter, but they were there! I set up my spotting scope and continued to view them from a distance as they are extremely skittish. I counted 6 males and 1 female - it's that time of the year...

As I was watching I noticed that there was a female Belted Kingfisher (Photo of Female Belted Kingfisher from Doug Marcum's Flickr - not taken this day) in the same pond scooping up lunch! They are another one of my favorite birds. I called Jeremy and told him to come up so that he could see them through the binoculars and spotting scope. He originally only saw them through the window at the rec. I give him credit for the proper identification of them and for letting me know about them being there! After getting drenched in the rain, we both went to our nursing class and called it a day for being "Out and About..."

A Cold Day At Veteren's Park

Snow-covered juvenile beech trees, still holding onto their leaves

For the past five weeks I have been held prisoner inside my house due to a fractured foot. Not being able to go out to the parks has been eating at me the whole time. So, today while sitting at home I decided that I have been away from the beauties of nature for far too long and went forth with strapping on my winter boots and bundled up for the bitter weather. I decided that I did not want to go out to a park that would contain rough terrain, so I figured that Veteren's Park would be the best option for me. It's close to home and offers a lot of great wildlife and scenery. I was hoping that when I arrived I would see a thawed out pond (it's pretty big) since we have had temperatures a bit more mild the past couple days, but it still was at least 80% frozen. Normally this is a pretty good spot this time of year as migrating waterfowl stop for a rest before they cross the largest pond around...Lake Erie. It may be just a bit early yet, but it's not uncommon to see Red-Breasted Mergansers, Canvas Backs, Coots, Buffleheads, and more. As for today, all I was able to see were the resident Mallards and Canada Geese. The mallards will allow for pictures to be taken of them, even with my point-and-shoot style camera, which tells you how close they will get. The geese are more fiesty and get upset if you come near - I keep my distance. Today they were honking at each other and defending their areas from other geese who may be migratory geese and not year-round residents of the pond.

Two males and one female mallard

After scouting the pond for migratory waterfowl and coming up empty-handed, I decided to walk the path along the pond to see if I could spot any good birds or other wildlife. As I walked I heard a Blue Jay mimicking the sound of a Red-Shouldered Hawk (which got me excited to see a RSH...Buteo lineatus), American Crows and their familiar "caw", Red-bellied woodpeckers and White-Breasted Nuthatches laughing, Cardinals and Tufted Titmice making their call, and song sparrows singing their beautiful, fluent song. All of which I was able to spot and observe through my binoculars. The song sparrows hopped around through thickets of brush while singing along the pond, cardinals perched in trees, standing out with their bright red feathers on a white, winter backdrop calling for their mates, Woodpeckers (red-bellied and downy) drilled holes in trees looking for a meal, and the mimicking Blue Jay flew from tree to tree. It was nice because I was the only one in the park basically, being quiet and letting the birds do what they do uninterrupted. After walking the perimeter if the pond I decided to enter the path that goes through the woods to see what was going on within...

Snow-covered bridge that leads into the woods

I have often found that if one stands on this bridge as still and quiet as possible, birds will put on a show for you. This is a great time of year for snowbirds who migrate from the North at this park. You can see the brush on the left of the picture...this is a perfect habitat for them. The thickets offer coverage and protection from hawks and other predators looking for a meal. So, I sat for a few minutes and sure enough, the birds came. Black-Capped Chickadees, Dark-Eyed Juncos, and Tufted Titmice. All of them, in flocks, buzz around this area feeding and chirping. I enjoyed watching and listening to them - it may be one of my last chances of the year to see them before they migrate North back to the cold tundra in Canada. I pushed forward through the woods and came across a few things that I was not expecting at all. First, I was stopped by the sight of a Brown Creeper, a small, brown tree-climber. I don't know how I even spotted it, as it was perfectly camouflaged with the bark of the tree it was climbing. I stood back and watched its behavior through my binoculars. It would start at the base of the tree and climb upward in a spiral pattern around the tree while picking out bugs from the cracks in the bark. It would make it about fifteen feet up the tree and drop down to the base of another tree and continue its feeding pattern. I watched it go back and forth for about ten minutes or so, switching back and forth from my binoculars to plain sight. I moved along because the temperature was in the twenties and my fingers were starting to throb from the combination of cold temperatures and bone-chilling wind (I forgot my gloves). It was not much further when I noticed a massive, freshly bored hole in a tree that had to be the work of the Pileated Woodpecker. I could easily fit my entire fist all the way into the hallowed out cavity. It amazes me the size of hole a Pileated can make. It was roughly 4"w x 6"h x 6" d.

Hole bored from a Pileated Woodpecker

After looking at this and realizing how lucky I am to not have to work like that for food I continued on through the woods. I made it about 100 yards away from the Pileated hole and noticed a huge nest in the crotch of a pretty tall Beech Tree. This was definitely the work of a hawk, however I saw no residents occupying it. I looked to my right and saw another hawk nest in a different beech tree! There is a potential for some good hawk sighting in that area which I will be sure to check back at. If nothing else, maybe an owl has taken over a nest and it was just roosting. I will go back one day closer to dusk and listen for a Great-Horned Owl. I continued on with my trek and came across a herd of White-Tailed Deer that were bedding down about fifty yards off the path and pretty close to someone's backyard. I have seen a lot of deer in that park, usually in pretty large packs, but never this many at once. I counted twelve! I tried to get closer to get a picture of them, however, when I got close enough they all stood up. The adults started to hiss at me and stomp its foot, telling me to get away. So, I snapped a quick picture and did just that.

There were more deer to the right of the picture totaling 12 

I pushed forward and continued to see beautiful things. The freshly snow-covered earth just amazed me with each step that I took. Perhaps it was the feeling of euphoria, finally back out into nature and not couped up in a house with a broken foot. On my way back to my car I saw a Pileated Woodpecker. I was not able to get my binoculars on it to tell if it was a male or female though- unfortunately. I hadn't seen it until it flew from the tree it was in. Once it started flying I never saw it stop. It vanished from my sight voicing its repetitive call the whole way. I also saw a Cooper's Hawk speed by me on its hunt. It was a good exiting walk out of the park, seeing two amazing birds - I can't wait until the next time that I get to go "out and about..."