Monday, April 23, 2007

numbers 344 and 345

On Saturday, I added two birds to my life list: Black-Necked Stilt and Tricolored Heron. I went out with three guys from my avids bird group to see the stilt, which was reported on Thursday to the Ohio bird sighting list. The stilt was hanging around a lake in Hueston Woods State Park in Preble County, near Oxford. We got to the location and the bird wasn't there at first, but another birder pointed out a Tricolored Heron hanging out near a small island. We got great looks through our scopes at this bird while waiting to see if the stilt would show up. Finally, I saw it fly in. It landed on a spit of land and began feeding, walking about on its insect-like thin pink legs and picking food from the surface of the water. So, two for one!

I also added a number of birds to the year list on Saturday as well, including Savannah Sparrow, Yellow-Throated Warbler, Virginia Rail, Sora, Rough-winged Swallow and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.

After we got back to Columbus, I made a side trip to a local metropark that has a good wetland for shorebirds and ticked off Lesser Yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpiper for the year list as well. Next weekend is our monthly Avids trip, and we will be going to Shawnee State Forest for migrants - should pick up an easy dozen or more warblers there!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well written article.