Hi Folks,

 

I just returned from several days at Crane Creek for both recreation & work.  I took Thursday & Friday off and spent Thurs. through Saturday casually birding areas along the Lake Erie shoreline east of Toledo.  During those three days I picked up 3 new life birds for myself (Yellow-headed blackbird, Wilson's Phalarope, & Clay-colored Sparrow).  Saturday evening I returned home & spent Sunday running errands.  Please understand that when I say that I was "casually birding" I mean that I didn't start my day at 4:00 a.m. (or even 8:00 a.m. for that matter) and I didn't beat up any little old ladies to see every species reported on the boardwalk.

 

Monday morning I returned to the Crane Creek area, acting as a private guide for someone associated with work.  Shortly after arriving at Metzger Marsh we saw Ruddy Turnstones, Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlin (1000's), & Yellowlegs sp.

 

Then we headed to the Magee Marsh boardwalk where 10 feet into the boardwalk we found a Golden-winged Warbler (another life bird for me).  Later on the boardwalk I ran into a photographer trying to photograph a very obliging Whip-poor-will, and set up my scope on the bird so that the person I was birding with could see the bird.  As I was speaking to the photographer a couple walked up & began looking through my scope & photographing the Whip-poor-will.  I glanced over at the gentleman as he was looking through my scope & noticed he was carrying the latest Stokes' Guide to Warblers.  I asked him where he got his copy (I didn't think they were out on the market yet).  He turned around & said, "Well, I'm the author."  It turned out that the couple that was looking through my scope was none other than Don & Lillian Stokes.  After a short coversation I invited them to dinner with us at Maumee Bay, where I was meeting my co-workers & other participants on our Birdathon.  They agreed & later that evening they showed up for dinner with autographed copies of their guide for everyone.  It was a great evening & a great opportunity to learn a lot.  Everyone in our group had a great time & both of them are really great people. 

 

Tuesday morning, after visiting the Black Swamp Bird Observatory banding station, we returned to the Magee Marsh boardwalk where we ran into Don & Lillian again, who were kind enough to give us a heads up of some of the birds we could expect to see that morning.

 

It was a great couple of days, and I haven't begun to tally how many species I saw over the course of the few days I was there...though only what we saw on Tuesday counted towards our birdathon total.

 

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to put a list together & provide an annotated account of some of the birds I saw over those several days (probably close to 150 species...not bad for casual birding ;o).

 

Take care & Happy Birding!

 

Casey