My friend and I birded the new (west) part of Howard Marsh Metropark from
8:30-10:15am today, walking along the east side and the boardwalk. It was
FANTASTIC!  Water and light conditions were perfect. There were LOTS of
shorebirds, terns, herons, etc. High points were at least 5 each of snowy
egrets and black-necked stilts, and one immature black-crowned night heron.
We did NOT see the four immature little blue herons reported recently. We
had 4-10 or more each of the following shorebird species: killdeer,
semipalmated plover, black-necked stilt, greater and lesser yellowlegs,
solitary sandpiper, semipalmated sandpiper, least sandpiper, pectoral
sandpiper, short-billed dowitcher. There were several Bonapate's gulls in
non-breeding plumage and several large groups of terns, including caspian,
common, and Forster's. There were lots of swallows flying around and
perching, including at least 30-40 bank swallows. In the first hour we had
over 30 species of birds.

We then went to the original Howard Marsh. Just past the entrance road, in
the brush on the south side, we called out a dickcissel that then sat atop
a sapling tree and sang for some time. We did not see many birds on the
ponds there - no shorebirds. We stopped at Maumee Bay state park, saw
several yellow warblers, and got a spotted sandpiper on the beach, but too
many people for good beach birding. We also stopped at Metzger Marsh and
picked up a few songbirds. It was really too hot after mid-morning for good
birding. However, the long drive from Wooster was worth it for the
excellent early morning birding. Get there early!! Randy Rowe, Wooster

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