Exploration

White Willow

As I watch the Cleveland Indians move towards a third straight victory (hopefully), leaving the Boston Red Sox winless, I decided that I need to throw up another blog. Doug Marcum and I made our typical Tuesday afternoon venture out to Mogodore Reservoir. We decided to take the canoe out again on a bitterly-cold, late, April afternoon. This time, my friend Jeremy joined us for a evening of adventure on the water. Prior to our departure from land Jeremy and I did a short hike through the woods while we waited for Doug and the canoe to arrive. I offered a quick birding lesson to Jeremy as we heard and spotted a few different birds and waterfowl (Double-Crested Cormorant, Ring-Billed Gulls, Lesser Scaup, Ring-Necked Ducks, Mallards, Tree Swallows, Pileated Woodpecker, Belted Kingfisher, and Great Blue Herons). We were inching closer and closer towards a Kingfisher that we spotted on the edge of the road near a wetland. This was a pretty forgiving Kingfisher, as they are typically very skittish. This one, a female, let us within 25 yards and Jeremy was able to get a great view of it via binoculars. We tried to get closer but it flew away as predicted. While going to track it down through the woods we heard a Pileated woodpecker voice its laugh-like call as it undulated through the air; I saw it fly, Jeremy did not. In attempt to spot it on the tree it landed on, we climbed up a tree that overlooked the inlet of the reservoir.

Jeremy making his way up

 After sitting up in the tree for a bit and spotting the Kingfisher, Jeremy spotted the Pileated Woodpecker flying around - it was his first! We quickly climbed down the tree to see if we could spot it again, however, we were without luck unfortunately. We got the call from Doug that he was there and ready to set out. We launched form a different spot this time and headed East from Congress Lake Road. I sat in back and served the purpose of steering and paddling while Jeremy manned the front of the canoe as a paddler - Doug was our navigator, sitting on a self-made seat of life preserves in the middle of the watercraft. We set out and perimetered the reservoir, coming across a small population of Eastern Phoebes (at least 6). Doug was snapping pictures as Jeremy and I skillfully set him up for the shots. We made our way around a large portion of the Eastern part of the reservoir when we scared up a pair of mallards, allowing for a great opportunity for Doug to shoot them, with his camera that is (link to Doug's Flickr account). Near there, we discovered an island with a decomposed carcass of an eight-point buck with his rack still attached. We landed our canoe and took a hike.

The island had shown many signs of animal life: The deer (carcass and fresh droppings) were not the only animals on the island, there was a lot of evidence of beaver activity as well! There were a lot of down trees from them, gnawed at the base of the trunks and left for future collection. There were also a variety of trees on the island: Red Pine, Red Oak, Beech, Cherry, and Shag-Bark Hickory. We came across a Red Oak that was mammoth in size. Along with the trees were a few species of a prehistoric plant - lycopods. You can see them make up the green of the island floor.

Doug and the Monster Red Oak

View off of the island

We boarded the canoe and continued on with our journey around the reservoir. The wind had picked up and we were showered on occasionally by ice pellets, however, that was short-lived. Not too long after, the sky opened up and created a magnificent painting in the sky. Doug captured the moment.

Reserved by Doug Marcum - The shot he took from previous picture

We made our way back to Congress Lake Road and docked the canoe so we could take a few pictures of the forming sunset. While waiting, Doug spotted a Bald Eagle that made a fly by right over us. Jeremy, had been wishing the whole time to see his first Bald Eagle in person, and his wish came true as the juvenile made its appearance close up. We watched it circle the entire reservoir and disappear in the distance. Behind us, the sun had made its way to the horizon, and as usual, the sunset was unreal and breathtaking. No sunset can compare to one which takes place over a body of water. The shimmering water, the dense clouds, and the harsh sun once again made an epic sunset. I couldn't have enjoyed myself more than with the two that I went out and about with on this adventure - many more to come.

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 :)