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