Hi all,



I met up with Cheryl Harner, and for part of the day, Rick Nirschl, and
enjoyed some good birding on this nice, sunny day. We started at the Girdham
Rd. sand barrens in the Oak Openings, Lucas County. Can't miss this
interesting sand blowout; it is along the east side of Girdham Rd not too
far south of Monclova Rd. There, the Clay-colored Sparrow reported by others
was in fine tune, and was easily found along the road. We are nearly sure we
saw its mate as well, but it was devilishly hard to pin her down for sure.
No problems with the male. He sings his odd buzzy song from semi-prominent
perches. If someone can devote the time early in the am, and could spend
some time watching, I suspect that they might be able to pin down the pair
down and perhaps find signs of nesting. There were also two Summer Tanagers
singing there, and I heard the Blue Grosbeak a bit further to the south
along Girdham Rd.



Towards the end of the day, we visited the now-famous prairie slough near
Bellevue that harbors the Black-necked Stilts. They didn't disappoint and we
spent quite a bit of time watching them. There is no question they are
nesting. A female was sitting in the field in the exact spot where Kenn
Kaufman described it the other day. We also saw it come off the nest, forage
by the water's edge for a while, then carefully make her way back to the
nest, fiddle with the eggs - presumably - and resume her incubation.



We also saw all four stilts at once. One was a loner, and stayed far off in
the vegetation at the slough's south end. I couldn't tell what sex it was.
At the same time, we had three birds in good view directly opposite us, and
these were two males and one female - this is when she briefly left the
nest. After a bit, one of the males, I'd assume the mate of the incubating
female, drove the other hanger-on male off. There were definitely no chicks
- stiltlets - with these birds, and it didn't look like any were with the
loner at the end of the pond.



It was nice to see Ruddy Ducks, American Coots, Pied-billed Grebes,
Blue-winged Teal, and a number of Great Egrets there as well. Weren't many
shorebirds in evidence, maybe 8 Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 1
Short-billed Dowitcher, and many Killdeer. With all the rain of late, this
is a good time to appreciate our former prairie regions, like the remnant of
the Castalia Prairie where these stilts are breeding. Driving back to
Columbus on Routes 4 and 98, the black soil wet depressions in the
agricultural fields are very obvious as one passes through the former wet
prairie region of the Sandusky Plains a bit east of Marion.



Jim



Jim McCormac

Columbus, Ohio

Like nature? Visit my blog: http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/

Like birds? Join the Ohio Ornithological Society: http://www.ohiobirds.org






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