Ohio University Ornithology: 2014

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Lake Erie!!

Date and Time: 22 November 2014 and 7:40- 8:05 am on the 24 hour clock
Name: Old Women's Creek, Huron, Ohio
Weather: Cloudy and Freezing Rain
Habitat: Lake
With: Lab Group

We woke from our bunks bright and early hoping to see some bird species that many of us have not seen before. My class and I walked out of the research center (where we were staying) and onto Lake Erie beach. Unfortunately, it was freezing rain on us and the ground was slick in many spots. But even though it was raining we did end up seeing many species of water birds out on the lake. We ended up seeing one Belted Kingfisher, 50+ Ring-billed Gulls, 2 Great Blue Herons, Killdeer, 2 American Crows, 35+ Red Breasted Mergansers, Common Loon, 10 Canada Geese, 2 Greater Scaup, and about 5 Hooded Mergansers.

Once we were finished on the beach we went back into our nice warm cabin and some of us took a nap as we waited for the rain to stop....

Date and Time: 22 November 2014 and 10:30-11:30 am on the 24 hour clock
Name: Huron Boat Basin
Weather: ~~Cold~~, Freezing, Cloudy, and High Winds
Habitat: Lake
With: Lab Group

Once the rain stopped we drive to Huron Boat Basin to find more bird species. Once there the cloud cover made it difficult to see far away species and the high freezing winds made it hard to stay outside the nice warm vans. Even though it was freezing, these winter species seemed unfazed by the weather and continued hunting fish and sifting their becks through the water to find micro-invertebrates.
We saw Northern Shovelers, 40+ Boneapart Gulls, Horned Grebe, Hearing Gull, Laughing Gull, 2 Greater Scaup, Greater Black Backed Gull (4 of the Gull Species were together in a group), Merganser flock of 10-20,000 birds which looked like a gray cloud moving across the horizon, Mallards, 1 Double Crested Cormerent, and 2 American Crows.

Date and Time: 22 November 2014 and 11:24 am- 13:10 pm on the 24 hour clock
Name: Sheldon Marsh
Weather: Cloudy and Sunny
Habitat: Marsh
With: Lab Group

At Sheldon Marsh we saw many many different bird species but to be honest my favorite part of the trip was seeing the field mice and holding them. They were very cute and when they were captured they didn't want to leave the warmth of our hands. If I could I would have probably slipped one into my pocket and taken him home. But back to the birds...

We ended up seeing 7+ American Robins, 3 Blue Jays, 3 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, European Starling, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, White Throated Sparrow, 2 Great Blue Herons, 2 Red-tailed Hawks, a Bald Eagle, American Pipin, Killdeer, Short-billed Dowitcher, about 5 Double Crested Cormerents, Widgen, Redheaded Ducks, Dunland, 2 American Tree Sparrow, and we heard a Nuthatch.

Date and Time: 22 November 2014 and 13:20 pm on the 24 hour clock
Name: Causeway
Weather: Cold and Windy
Habitat: Lake
With: Lab Group

We were not here very long but we did see a few interesting species. We found many Canada Geese, 50+ Mallards, many Tundra Swans, a few Great Blue Herons, Scaups, American Coot, and Mute Swans.

Date and Time: 22 November 2014 and 15:30 pm on the 24 hour clock
Name: East Harbor State Park
Weather: Cold and Windy
Habitat: Lake
With: Lab Group

Here we saw one Greater Black Backed Gull which was in the same spot and location as it was last year. We also saw Ready Ducks, 45+ Ring-billed Gulls, 10+ Boneapart Gulls, a Great Blue Heron, 6+ Trumpiter Swans, 2 Bald Eagles, 10+ American Robins, Black Capped Chickadee, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, 40+ Canada Geese, Downy Woodpecker, Red-tailed Hawk, and American Gold Finch.

Date and Time: 23 November 2014 and 8:40-910 am on the 24 hour clock
Name: Huron Peer
Weather: Cloudy and rainy
Habitat: Lake and Field
With: Lab Group

The next day we got up around 7 am, packed up all our things and cleaned the cabin. Once the cars were packed we made our way back to Huron Peer to find the Harris Sparrow which is apparently a western species and is very rare to see in Ohio. We did end up seeing the Harris Sparrow who was feeding with many other types of sparrows in a field. We also saw many Ring-billed Gulls and Boneapart Gulls, one Horned Grebe, White Crowned Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, and a Swamp Sparrow.

Date and Time: 23 November 2014 and 10:09-11:50 am on the 24 hour clock
Name: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and other locations around Ottawa
Weather: Cloudy
Habitat: Marsh and field
With: Lab Group

At our last location for the semester we finished our birding trip by seeing a Red-tailed Hawk, 5+ American Gold Finch, 3+ Tree Sparrows, 4+ House Sparrow, House Finch, 2 FOX SPARROWS :), Horned Lark, Morning Dove, 16 Trumpeter or Tundra Swans flying, a Horned Grebe, and Boneapart Gulls. And to end this wonderful birding experience my van saw 4 American Kestrels perched on telephone wires on the drive home.

Field Mouse

Bald Eagles

Horned Grebe

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Fox Sparrow

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Lake Logan

Date and Time: 25 October 2014 and 8:25 am on the 24 hour clock
Name: Lake Logan in Logan, Ohio
Weather: Cold and partly cloudy
Habitat: Lake and marsh
With: Lab Group

It was a cold fall morning when we arrived at Lake Logan. The sun was beginning to rise over the water but the cool breeze coming off the lake gave us no hope of it warming up. We hiked along the lake as fears of falling in became apparent. At the edge of the trail we were able to pear out onto the lake as we listened to the sweet songs of Song Sparrows, American Crows, Blue Jays, and Northern Cardinals singing from the canape. As we headed back to the cars we saw Canada Geese flying over head and a Double-Crested Cormorant fishing in the lake. Its black body and yellow beak gave it away. On the other side of the bridge we found two Mallards and a mated pair of Mute Swans which are an introduced species from Europe and are very aggressive.
We then drive further down the lake and were able to see 11 Mallards, 3 more Mute Swans, a Red-necked Greeb, a Double-Crested Cormorant, Canada Geese, a Blue Heron, two Belted Kingfishers, an American Coot, a Piped-billed Greeb, a Ring-billed Gall and a Kill Deer. We also heard Song Sparrows and a Red-bellied Woodpecker.
At the end of the lake around 9:45 am there was also a marsh habitat present. Here we saw +11 Red-winged Blackbirds. The males were displaying in the trees above the marsh while the females watched unnoticed from the cattails and brush below. We also saw a Great Blue Heron perching high in a tree which seemed very odd to us. We saw another looking for fish in the lake. At the end of the lake we also saw 5 more Mute Swans, European Starlings, 31 Mallards, a Ceder Wax Wing, 11 American Robins, 3 Wood Ducks flying over head, 3 American Coots swimming, and a White Crowned Sparrow. We also got to see a Downy Woodpecker close up, with its black and white streaks very present and 3 Swam Sparrows who has gray backs with no brown streaks on their breasts.

Two of the paired Mute Swans we saw at Lake Logan

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

South Carolina Continued

Date and Time: 27 September 2014, 10:20 am
Name of Site: Frances Marian National Forest
Weather: Over Cast
Habitats: Forest
With: Lab Group

We left our campsite bight and early and drive 3 hours further down to Hunting Beach. Along the way we arrived stopped at Frances Marian National Forest at 10:20 am. We hiked off trail though tick infested grasses and weeds, hoping we wouldn't step on or startle a Cotton Mouth along the way. This adventure was an attempted to find the beautiful and rare Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. Unfortunately we were unable to find the birds but we did see Red-Bellied Woodpeckers. We did see some a few green anoles, a huge grass hopper, and a large moth caterpillar.

Date and Time: 27 September 2014, 12:13 pm on the 24 hour clock
Name of Site: Hunting Beach South Carolina
Weather: Rainy and over cast
Habitats: Beach
With: Lab Group

We finally made it to the beach and went on a board walk to a lake. There we saw Cormerents, Great Egret, Tree Swallows, Royal Terns, Osprey, Bank Swallow, Norther Ruft-wing Swallow, Morning Dove, Northern Mocking Bird, Tundra Swans, Northern Cardinal, Anhinga, Piped-billed Greebs, and Horned Greeb. Once at the beach we saw more Brown Pelicans, a Whilet, Sand-pipers, and Laughing Galls.

Date and Time: 27 September 2014, 16 pm on the 24 hour clock
Name of Site: Nature Center Board walk
Weather: over cast and rainy
Habitats: Marsh
With: Lab Group

At the Nature Center's Board Walk we got to see many amazing birds up close. We saw a White Ibis, Great Egret, Wood Storks, a Clapper Rail, Little Blue Heron, and a Great Blue Heron. We also got to see a Roseate Spoonbill up close and watch it sift through the water for micro invertebrates. It was also getting in the was of a Tri-colored Heron who was standing in the water waiting for small fish to come near him. The Heron was getting really annoyed at the Spoonbill who seemed oblivious to his presences.

Date and Time: 27 September 2014, 16:40 on the 24 hour clock
Name of Site: Causeway
Weather: Same
Habitats: Marsh
With: Lab Group

We ventured on to the Causeway were we found a King Fisher, Anhinga, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Tri-colored Heron, Osprey, Piped-billed Grebs, and a Clapper Rail. Here we also saw many alligators who were only a few feet from us as we walked along the side walk.

South Carolina September 25-28 2014

Date and Time:26 September 2014 at 8:01 am
Name of Site: Hunting Island, South Carolina
Weather: Partly Cloudy, warm
Habitats: Palm Forest, Lagoon and beach
With: Lab Group

We woke up early and left our campsite around 8 am where we hiked along a gravel road to a lagoon near by. Along the way we saw Carolina Chickadee's (who will attack owls or larger birds by defecating on them when they feel threatened) and Northern Cardinal's (who make distinct high pitch chirps). Once we arrived at the lagoon we found an Osprey perched high up in a tree across the water. We also saw Carolina Wren, and a Blue Jay. In the Lagoon we also observed Mud crabs and a Dolphin swimming up stream.
We further ventured into the Palm Forest where we saw Brown-headed Nuthatch (they use bark as a tool to get insects out of trees), Pileated Woodpecker, a ton of Norther Mocking Birds, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and American Kestrel.
We soon made it to the beach where we observed Brown Pelican's soaring only a few feet above the ocean, Laughing Galls (adults have black wing tips in the winter), Caspian Tern's, Merlin, American Crow, and an Ibis.
We then ventured back to the road and began to fallow the lagoon again. There were also trees on both sides of the road which made for perfect habitats for edge forest birds. We saw Morning Doves and Norther Mocking Birds perched on phone wires, Snow Egret (yellow lore and black bill), Great Egret (yellow bill), Belted King Fisher, Black and White Warbler, Palm Warbler,Yellow Thoughted Vireo, Wide-eyed Vireo, Great Blue Heron, Eastern Tufted Titmouse (its call is: Peter Peter Peter), and Peregiane Falcons.

Date and Time: 26 September 2014 at 12:45 pm
Name of Site: Hunting Beach, South Carolina
Weather: Sunny, and warm
Habitats: Beach
With: with a few of my class mates

Time Trial of the Laughing Gall

Observations every 15 seconds

Found one Laughing Gall soaring at 1250 pm
landed on beach
walking
sitting
humans fed them pop-corn
standing
flying
two more landed on beach
walking
more landed on beach
soared a foot off ground then landed
running
preening
running after insect- did not catch
about half of the 14 individuals flew off
soaring over humans for food
fighting for territory by lowering head, screeching and charging other Laughing Gall's
standing
standing
walking
gape mouth to show dominance
one alpha Laughing Gall appears to be in the group
alpha's head is down making the most noise, all the other galls heads are up
annoying humans by flying at them and screeching for food
standing
standing
one juvenile in group, others appear to be adults in their non- breeding plumage
alpha male screeching
standing
walking, legs appear to be crossing when they walk
standing
walking
standing
standing
scratching head
sleeping standing up
stretching leg and wing - juvenile
standing
stretching- juvenile
running start before flying off
12 individuals now present
walking
standing
3 are sitting
looking at ground and walking, maybe looking for food in the sand
preening
scratching
fluffing up feathers
running because he thought he saw food
flying
landing
standing
sitting
standing
flying
soaring
landing
riding wind gust up off the ground a foot then landing
fighting
standing
walking
screeching and head bobbing from dominant male

Date and Time: 26 September 2014, 15 pm on the 24 hour clock
Name of Site: Hunting Island, South Carolina
Weather: Cloudy 79*F
Habitats: Marsh
With: Lab Group

Later on in the day we drove a few minutes down the island to a marsh habitat. Here we only observed a few Snowy Egrets searching for food in the marsh.

Date and Time: 26 September 2014, 15 pm on the 24 hour clock
Name of Site: South Carolina: Marsh Board Walk
Weather: Same conditions
Habitats: Marsh
With: Lab Group

We ventured down the road a little further to see if we would have more luck at the board walk. There was much more life here and we were able to see many fascinating birds and other animals. We saw more mud crabs and learned the males will rip of the claw of other males, during a fight, so the claw wont grow back as larger. For birds we observed five Wood Storks soaring over the marsh which are endangered, Brown-Headed Nuthatch, Tri-colored Hereon, Red-tailed Hawk who was flaring his red tail as he preened, Turkey Vultures, I saw two Clapper Rails fly up from the marsh and land back into the high grasses (these birds are very shy and do not like to be seen), Morning Dove, Blue Jay, Osprey, Red-Winged Blackbird, Palm Warbler, and Logerhead Shrikes (they are rare and kill their pray by stabbing them on thorns and branches).

Date and Time: 26 September 2014, 16:00 pm on the 24 hour clock
Name of Site: Nature Center on Hunting Island South Carolina
Weather: same conditions
Habitats: marsh, forest
With: Lab Group

We then went to the nature center that was near our camp site to search for birds near the swamp and bird feeders. We walked on a board walk and saw an Osprey perched on a poll and two Bald Eagle sitting in a nest high up in the trees a little ways behind the Osprey. We also found Boatailed Grakal, Laughing Galls, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Snowy Egret, Northern Cardinal, and a King Fisher. We then went on a hiking trail to get a closer look and the Eagles.They were beautiful and we were able to see that one was nesting and the other was perched on a branch outside the nest.

Date and Time: 26 Septermber 2014, 17:15 pm on the 24 hour clock
Name of Site: Light house
Weather: Same
Habitats: Swamp
With: Lab Group

By this point it was getting late and people were starting to get hungry so we did not stay long and only observed a few bird species. We saw Blue Jays and Black Vultures. We also found an alligator laying out on the grass across the swamp.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Field Trip 2: Lake Hope

Date and Time: 20 September 2014 and 24 hr clock 7:37 am

Name: Hope Furnace, Zaleski, Ohio

Weather: Cool, Clear skies, Calm- no wind

Habitat: Field, edge, brush, marsh, lake

With: Lab group

Temperature: around 60*F

My Ornithology group and I arrived in Zaleski State Park at 7:37 am to observe birds. It was a cool morning with few clouds over head. We walked along the marsh next to Hope Furnace and entered a near by trail. As the sun began to rise more and hit the trees more and more birds became active. We heard many birds calling to one another and learned that if you lesson closely you can pick out individuals calls by the difference in their pitch. Each bird in a species make the same calling sounds to communicate with one another but they can tell each other apart but the pitch of the call.

In the marsh, lake, and woody habitats we heard and saw many species. We heard the Carolina Wren, Red Shouldered Hawk and saw Common Yellowthought Warblers (males have black masks during the mating season), American Gold Finch, Wide Eyed Verian, American Crow, Blue Jay, Gray Catbird, Yellow Jay, Brown Thrasher, Oven Bird, Downy Woodpecker, White breasted Nuthatch, Hairy Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee, King Fisher, Red bellied Woodpecker, Red Headed Woodpecker, Canada Geese, Tufted Titmouse, Yellow Warbler, Bay Breasted Warbler, Brown Thrasher, Green Herein, Wood Duck and Turkey Vulture.

We also observed Tufted Titmouse, Warblers, and Carolina Chickadees together in a group. They were helping each other find food. We also found oval shaped holes drilled in trees and learned that these holes were from Pileted Woodpeckers. When we were by the lake we saw two flocks of about 15 individuals of Wood Ducks in each group. The first group that took off contained only male Wood Ducks while the second groups had a mix of males and females.

Date and Time: 20 September 2014 and 24 hr clock 9:35 am

Name: Lake Hope Nature Center, Zaleski, Ohio

Weather: Same conditions

Habitat: Woody, edge

With: Lab group

We arrived at Lake Hope Nature Center around 9:35 am. When we got there, there were no birds present and it was dead silent. This could have been because a predator bird like a hawk was nearby causing nearby birds to take cover.

Date and Time: 20 September 2014 and 24 hr clock 9:55 am

Name: Grouse Point Trail Head, Zaleski, Ohio

Weather: Getting warmer and more clouds are present

Habitat: Swamp, woody

With: Lab group

We arrived at Grouse Point Trail Head around 9:55 am. This was a swampy habitat where we saw Eastern Phoebe’s, Salutary Sandpipers, American Gold Finch, and a Coopers Hawk. At this site we also observed baby turtles and toads before taking a short hike on the trail.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Field Trip 1: At The Hawking River and The Ridges

Date and time- 6 September 2014 and 7 am- 10 am

Name of field site- Hawking River and The Ridges

Weather- 72 degrees Fahrenheit, partly cloudy, humid

Habitats visited- shoreline, shrub, field, woods, and edge habitats

Who I was with- Ornithology lab group

On 6 September 2014 my Ornithology class and I departed Ohio University to the haunted Ridges and shoreline of the Hawking River in search of various bird species. Around 7:20 am we arrived on the shoreline of the Hawking expecting to see many shorebird species, especially since it was World Shorebird Day. The sun was just starting to rise so it was difficult to make out the few silhouettes fling over head. The threat of a storm seemed near as the warm weather and partly cloudy skies became humid and muggy as the morning pressed on. The lack of many species in the early morning made us wonder how soon the storm will be approaching. As the minutes ticked by and the sun began to rise, more and more species begin to present themselves. While at the Hawking we saw and heard many shore and non-shore bird species. We saw European Starlings, Song Sparrow, Blue Jay, Black Vulture, American Crow, Mallard Ducks, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, and Canada Geese.

European Starling

Song Sparrow

Blue Jay

Black Vulture

-these birds used to be rare but their numbers are greatly increasing

American Crow

Mallard Ducks

Killdeer

Spotted Sandpiper

- these birds are associated with fresh water habitats

Canada Geese

Around 8 am we decided to make our way to The Ridges where we were greeted by 42+ Black Vultures fighting over who knows what. We soon parked our vans where the Tuberculosis Ward of the old insane asylum use to lie and made our way through a cemetery to a pond and edge habitat. Once there we were able to see many more species and hear many bird calls in the trees and flying overhead. We identified many species there like the Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, Chimney Swift, Red Bellied Woodpecker, and Gold Finch. After identifying these birds we made our way to the nature trail and all the way to Radar Hill which had many shrub, field, woody and edge habitats along the way. As we walked, we found and heard Eastern Wood-Pewee, Carolina Wren, Downy Woodpecker, American Robin, White-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Cardinal, Gray Catbird, Eastern Towhee, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, White-eyed Vireo, Morning Dove, Ceder Waxwing, and Turkey Vultures.