I decided to chase the Wood Stork today altho I was worried about the viewing conditions which are indeed hazardous. For those who haven’t chased it, please be v careful on the busy 2-lane road (Rt 269). Also be aware the owner of the Deer Park (whom I think also owns the log cabin across the road that is posted no parking or trespassing) is not friendly to birders. I wish there were some way to communicate to him that he’s welcome to put out a donation jar/box as birders would be grateful to park on the road to his deer park. Not sure if that road is private or public—it’s not posted. 

At any rate, a handful of us had stunning views of the Wood Stork is it foraged practically at our feet in the flooded drainage ditch on the west side of the road. It was oblivious to the traffic, birders & photographers. This was an Ohio bird for me plus I haven’t seen one for a while. 

Despite adding to the day’s drive, I wanted to see the Piping Plovers before they departed. I saw all four of the fledglings as well as Nash. Nellie left about 2 wks ago. 

Had a scare with one of the fledglings—while I was watching one of them thru my scope, it picked up a 3” plastic tubular object & was trying to swallow the whole thing! I alerted the volunteers who despite not having a net to capture the bird were able to get the chick to drop the object so they could retrieve it. Turned out it was a piece of a balloon and given its length, could’ve killed the chick had it ingested it so everyone was relieved. The Volunteers there are just wonderful and I’m so glad they were able to get the ballon away from it. Thx for looking out for this special family all season!!

I heard a Virginia Rail at Howard Marsh but didn’t see it. dipped on the Dickcissels I’d hoped for—wind and the heat of the day didn’t help. I needed to head back south so I called it a day. 

Peggy Wang
Granville 

Sent from my iPhone
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