Bird is the Word
M enjoys birding, so this past weekend we took Friday off and drove west to the area around Port Clinton to do some birding and general touristing.
Our primary destination for Friday afternoon was Magee Marsh, which is a well known birding habitat on the shores of Lake Erie made up of some the remnants of the Great Black Swamp. This remnant, as with many of the other nearby remnants, was preserved by hunters who enjoyed shooting waterfowl, and then turned into more official wildlife areas years later.
The key bit of Magee Marsh is a boardwalk very close to Lake Erie. From that boardwalk we saw a male common egret from about 20 feet away. We could clearly see the green feathers around his eyes which indicate a male in mating season. Later on some other birders pointed out one of the warblers that Magee Marsh is famous for. They said it was a pine warbler. It didn't seem to have quite the right coloring to be a pine warbler, but it was indisputably some kind of warbler, even though it's a bit early for the northward migration to be coming through. From the same point we also able to see a bald eagle on its nest, complete with eaglets who occasionally popped their heads up. In addition to the avian life, we saw a large number of Lake Erie Water Snakes, a bunch of turtles (including one very large snapping turtle.
From there we drove out the Marblehead Light and walked around a bit. As with most of the summer tourist activities we encountered, it had not yet opened for the summer so we couldn't take the tour, but you still get a lovely view of Cedar Point from the park at its base. From there we grabbed a late lunch at The Crow's Nest
We had a hotel room reserved in Fremont, home of Rutherford B. Hayes. We checked in and had a very late dinner at The Tackle Box 2, which was festively decorated with all manner of plastic decorations.
The next morning we headed back north to Port Clinton. At a charity event some weeks ago we won two round trip ferry tickets to South Bass Island. Yes, that's right, we won a boat trip.
M had spent many childhood vacations at Put-in-Bay and knew of a bird trail on the island so that was our official excuse. Plus, I've lived in Ohio more than 20 years and never been there, which apparently is not allowed. So we took a ferry ride and rent a golf cart and set out to explore the island.
First up was Perry's Monument, which overlooks the site of the Battle of Lake Erie. It was closed for renovations, but it's hard to hide a 350 foot column so at least we got to see it. From there we headed out to Scheeff East Point Nature Preserve, which is a small nature preserve at the tip of the island. In a short walk we saw a large number of swallows (there's a meadow with many swallow houses set up that M called swallowlandia). We also saw a horned grebe and what M is pretty sure was a yellow-rumped warbler. For the rest of the day we roamed around the island. Pretty much everything was closed, it being early in the season, but the weather was pleasant and we had a nice lunch at one place that was open.
We then headed west to Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, which is built around another chunk of marsh. We were there as it approached sunset, and the visitor's center was already closed, but we saw more wildlife there in an hour than we did the entire rest of the trip. This included many more common egrets, a couple of swans, more bald eagles, several great blue herons, and assorted other more common birds like red-winged blackbirds and Canadian geese. The real prize, though, was the Great Horned Owl. Another birder pointed it out its nest to us. We saw at least two owlets courtesy of M's binoculars, and we saw Mama Owl (or Papa Owl) delivering food to them. Mama Owl was gigantic. The owlets were pretty large themselves and quite fuzzy looking. It was very, very neat.
The owl made the trip a success all by itself, but we saw another snake, a raccoon in a tree, and a regular swarm of bullfrogs. For a while every step we took triggered three or four bullfrogs jumping into the marsh. We didn't even get along half the trails before we turned back due to imminent sunset. We'll definitely head out that way again next time. There were a number of other nature reserves in the area that we have yet to try as well.
We had a late dinner, M watched SNL and I read Sandman: Overture. We returned this morning in time for radio.
Our primary destination for Friday afternoon was Magee Marsh, which is a well known birding habitat on the shores of Lake Erie made up of some the remnants of the Great Black Swamp. This remnant, as with many of the other nearby remnants, was preserved by hunters who enjoyed shooting waterfowl, and then turned into more official wildlife areas years later.
The key bit of Magee Marsh is a boardwalk very close to Lake Erie. From that boardwalk we saw a male common egret from about 20 feet away. We could clearly see the green feathers around his eyes which indicate a male in mating season. Later on some other birders pointed out one of the warblers that Magee Marsh is famous for. They said it was a pine warbler. It didn't seem to have quite the right coloring to be a pine warbler, but it was indisputably some kind of warbler, even though it's a bit early for the northward migration to be coming through. From the same point we also able to see a bald eagle on its nest, complete with eaglets who occasionally popped their heads up. In addition to the avian life, we saw a large number of Lake Erie Water Snakes, a bunch of turtles (including one very large snapping turtle.
From there we drove out the Marblehead Light and walked around a bit. As with most of the summer tourist activities we encountered, it had not yet opened for the summer so we couldn't take the tour, but you still get a lovely view of Cedar Point from the park at its base. From there we grabbed a late lunch at The Crow's Nest
We had a hotel room reserved in Fremont, home of Rutherford B. Hayes. We checked in and had a very late dinner at The Tackle Box 2, which was festively decorated with all manner of plastic decorations.
The next morning we headed back north to Port Clinton. At a charity event some weeks ago we won two round trip ferry tickets to South Bass Island. Yes, that's right, we won a boat trip.
Click to viewM had spent many childhood vacations at Put-in-Bay and knew of a bird trail on the island so that was our official excuse. Plus, I've lived in Ohio more than 20 years and never been there, which apparently is not allowed. So we took a ferry ride and rent a golf cart and set out to explore the island.
First up was Perry's Monument, which overlooks the site of the Battle of Lake Erie. It was closed for renovations, but it's hard to hide a 350 foot column so at least we got to see it. From there we headed out to Scheeff East Point Nature Preserve, which is a small nature preserve at the tip of the island. In a short walk we saw a large number of swallows (there's a meadow with many swallow houses set up that M called swallowlandia). We also saw a horned grebe and what M is pretty sure was a yellow-rumped warbler. For the rest of the day we roamed around the island. Pretty much everything was closed, it being early in the season, but the weather was pleasant and we had a nice lunch at one place that was open.
We then headed west to Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, which is built around another chunk of marsh. We were there as it approached sunset, and the visitor's center was already closed, but we saw more wildlife there in an hour than we did the entire rest of the trip. This included many more common egrets, a couple of swans, more bald eagles, several great blue herons, and assorted other more common birds like red-winged blackbirds and Canadian geese. The real prize, though, was the Great Horned Owl. Another birder pointed it out its nest to us. We saw at least two owlets courtesy of M's binoculars, and we saw Mama Owl (or Papa Owl) delivering food to them. Mama Owl was gigantic. The owlets were pretty large themselves and quite fuzzy looking. It was very, very neat.
The owl made the trip a success all by itself, but we saw another snake, a raccoon in a tree, and a regular swarm of bullfrogs. For a while every step we took triggered three or four bullfrogs jumping into the marsh. We didn't even get along half the trails before we turned back due to imminent sunset. We'll definitely head out that way again next time. There were a number of other nature reserves in the area that we have yet to try as well.
We had a late dinner, M watched SNL and I read Sandman: Overture. We returned this morning in time for radio.