Sean's Blog

No sooner than I write a post about the birds we’ve seen at our feeder and another bird is added to the list: Song Sparrow.

While some are common to what we saw in Bowling Green, OH, there are some we either never or rarely saw while there, probably due to our location.

Birds seen at our feeders on the porch:

• Blue Jay
• Northern Cardinal
• House Sparrow
• House Finch
• Carolina Chickadee
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Tufted Titmouse – added 7/25 when I realized I skipped this species somehow
• Mourning Dove – moved from the complex list on 7/31 after almost a week of visiting the feeders

Birds seen outside the rear windows of the apartment (computer room and bedroom):

• The above list
• American Robin
• American Goldfinch
• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
• Some small wren-like bird we didn’t get a chance to identify completely

Finally, birds seen while walking around the apartment complex grounds:

• Pileated Woodpecker
• Mallard (one female and four juveniles)
• Black-crowned Night-Heron
• Chimney Swift

That brings the list to 15 16 different bird species (including the unidentified one, which we can say is not one of the listed ones). Then again, I guess being surrounded by plenty of trees helps with the number of species.

Edit 7/31: I’m modifying the above list to include the fact that the mourning doves have found the feeder and now visit rather regularly. The added benefit is that they, much like the song sparrow and some of the house finches, assist in cleaning up the porch by eating seeds that have been knocked out of the feeders.

Location: Penitentiary Glen
Observation date: 5/23/09
Notes: Started 75 degrees (F) and sunny; felt closer to 80 by the time we finished.
Number of species: 13

• Canada Goose 4
• Barred Owl 1
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
• Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
• Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
• Eastern Phoebe 2
• Blue Jay 1
• Tree Swallow 3
• Black-capped Chickadee 3
• White-breasted Nuthatch 3
• Chipping Sparrow 2
• Northern Cardinal 2
• Common Grackle 1

The Barred Owl was a sight; something must have roused it from it’s rest, as it was moving around, which is why we saw it in the first place. The Ruby-throated Hummingbird I caught sight of by accident, as it was about 25 feet or so away and up in the branches, but I was able to follow it for a bit as it darted around from tree to tree.

I’ve found myself as of late watching and listening to birds when I’m not doign anything else, or to relieve stress. I’ve done it now a handful of times when I’ve had to cross campus alone for reason or another, and I did it this weekend at my Mom’s house.

On BGSU’s campus, there’s not much exciting or different eight now, but it does help to learn common species; the American Robin, European Starling, American Goldfinch, Chipping Sparrow, House Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, and Northern Cardinal are all species I’m getting better at noticing from afar as well as by their call.

This weekend we went to visit my Mom, and during the process of getting the grill ready, cooking, and eating, watching the skies was a great way to deal with the down time. I kept a number of different lists while I was there and will up submitting them to ebird.org here shortly. I manager to point out a Common Nighthawk to Meghan finally, which, like the Chimney Swifts over the neighborhood and the Killdeer we saw near the golf course/development, was a sighting I didn’t expect to see.

I’m about a week late on posting this one, but I entered it a couple days ago and was then away from the Interwebs for a couple days.

Location: Oak Openings Region
Observation date: 5/17/09
Notes: The day started sunny and around 57 degrees (F), perhaps getting 10 degrees warmer.
Number of species: 25

• Red-tailed Hawk 1
• Mourning Dove 1
• Red-headed Woodpecker 6
• Downy Woodpecker 2
• Least Flycatcher 1
• Eastern Phoebe 2
• Great Crested Flycatcher 3
• Blue Jay 1
• Tree Swallow 3
• Black-capped Chickadee 1
• Tufted Titmouse 2
• White-breasted Nuthatch 1
• Eastern Bluebird 2
• Veery 1
• American Robin 4
• Pine Warbler 1
• American Tree Sparrow 1
• Chipping Sparrow 10
• Field Sparrow 2
• Lark Sparrow 1
• Savannah Sparrow 4
• Indigo Bunting 1
• Brown-headed Cowbird 3
• Orchard Oriole 2
• American Goldfinch 1

Location: Ottawa NWR (Ottawa Co.)
Observation date: 5/10/09
Notes: This was a 7-mile driving loop.
Number of species: 18

• Canada Goose 97
• Trumpeter Swan 3
• Mallard 3
• Double-crested Cormorant 9
• Great Blue Heron 5
• Great Egret 92
• Turkey Vulture 3
• Red-tailed Hawk 1
• American Coot 6
• Killdeer 1
• Eastern Phoebe 1
• Eastern Kingbird 4
• Tree Swallow 37
• American Robin 9
• Gray Catbird 2
• European Starling 13
• Red-winged Blackbird 55
• American Goldfinch 2

Location: Magee Marsh Wildlife Area (Lucas Co.)
Observation date: 5/10/09
Notes: Started the morning out about 50 degrees (F) and partly sunny, ending in the mid 50s.
Number of species: 46

• Canada Goose 29
• Mallard 3
• Double-crested Cormorant 1
• Great Blue Heron 5
• Great Egret 16
• Snowy Egret 1
• Turkey Vulture 1
• Sora 1
• Killdeer 2
• Herring Gull 1
• Mourning Dove 2
• Eastern Screech-Owl 1
• Least Flycatcher 3
• Great Crested Flycatcher 1
• Eastern Kingbird 2
• Warbling Vireo 2
• Tree Swallow 40
• House Wren 3
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet 8
• Veery 7
• Swainson’s Thrush 1
• American Robin 20
• Gray Catbird 11
• Nashville Warbler 1
• Northern Parula 1
• Yellow Warbler 10
• Chestnut-sided Warbler 11
• Magnolia Warbler 7
• Cape May Warbler 2
• Black-throated Blue Warbler 3
• Yellow-rumped Warbler 25
• Black-throated Green Warbler 9
• Palm Warbler 13
• Bay-breasted Warbler 3
• Black-and-white Warbler 6
• American Redstart 3
• Prothonotary Warbler 3
• Wilson’s Warbler 1
• Canada Warbler 1
• White-throated Sparrow 14
• White-crowned Sparrow 2
• Northern Cardinal 2
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
• Red-winged Blackbird 52
• Common Grackle 12
• Baltimore Oriole 5

Location: Wintergarden Park/St. John’s Nature Preserve
Observation date: 5/9/09
Notes: The weather started about 60 degrees (F) and overcast and ended around 62 degrees (F) and partly sunny. The wind gusted occasionally.
Number of species: 22

• Canada Goose 1
• Wood Duck 2
• Mallard 8
• Turkey Vulture 7
• Cooper’s Hawk 1
• Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
• Red-eyed Vireo 1
• Blue Jay 5
• Tree Swallow 2
• Tufted Titmouse 2
• Wood Thrush 1
• American Robin 6
• Gray Catbird 1
• European Starling 1
• Chipping Sparrow 3
• Swamp Sparrow 1
• Northern Cardinal 3
• Indigo Bunting 2
• Red-winged Blackbird 2
• Brown-headed Cowbird 3
• American Goldfinch 5

We went to Wintergarden rather early (compared to when we go on Sundays) as Meghan had to be at Finders for her last day of work by 9:00 AM. This meant getting up around 5:30/6:00 AM in order to get everything together and have enough time to bird. We didn’t see as much as we had hoped for, as it was very windy and we weren’t going at our normal, slow pace. We’re heading up to the lake tomorrow to see what’s there for migration season.

Location: Wintergarden Park/St. John’s Nature Preserve
Observation date: 4/26/09
Notes: This outing started somewhere around 75 degrees (F) with clear skies but ended around 82 degrees (F) and partly cloudy.
Number of species: 20

• Mallard 3
• Mourning Dove 3
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 4
• Downy Woodpecker 2
• Blue Jay 10
• Tree Swallow 1
• Tufted Titmouse 4
• White-breasted Nuthatch 5
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet 5
• Eastern Bluebird 1
• Hermit Thrush 3
• American Robin 40
• Gray Catbird 1
• Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
• Song Sparrow 1
• White-throated Sparrow 8
• Northern Cardinal 2
• Red-winged Blackbird 4
• Brown-headed Cowbird 4
• American Goldfinch 12

My wife was disappointed by the lower number of species that we observed, but that was due to the weather being at that point where it actually got too warm.

Location: Magee Marsh Wildlife Area (Lucas Co.)
Observation date: 4/12/09
Notes: Clear skies; mid 40s.
Number of species: 31

• Canada Goose – 13
• Tundra Swan – 5
• Northern Shoveler – 2
• Ring-necked Duck – 4
• Pied-billed Grebe – 1
• Double-crested Cormorant – 2
• Great Blue Heron – 9
• Great Egret – 5
• Snowy Egret – 2
• American Coot – 34
• Killdeer – 3
• Bonaparte’s Gull – 1
• Ring-billed Gull – 5
• Herring Gull – 2
• Mourning Dove – 4
• Downy Woodpecker – 4
• Northern Flicker – 1
• Tree Swallow – 50
• Brown Creeper – 3
• Winter Wren – 3
• Golden-crowned Kinglet 14
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 1
• Hermit Thrush – 4
• American Robin – 50
• American Tree Sparrow – 5
• Fox Sparrow – 4
• Dark-eyed Junco – 1
• Northern Cardinal – 1
• Red-winged Blackbird – 50
• Rusty Blackbird – 5
• Common Grackle – 30