Spring Bird Migration 2024

Images are from May 6 but I'm all twisted up here...

[Hundreds of thousands of birds stop on the Lake Erie shoreline before crossing to Canada in early-mid May every year.  Birds and photogs from all over the globe come to northwest Ohio for events and birding.]

Extra:  In the morning I did a two hour shift with VD at West Creek Reservation (northeast Ohio). Note that it's several miles from the Lake Erie shore.  We had an enjoyable hike as always.  We/Merlin app heard the following birds: scarlet tanager, red-eyed vireo, chestnut-sided warbler, brown-headed cowbird, song sparrow, and red-winged blackbird.  We saw none of them.  VD showed me where an American Chestnut tree is growing.

Main Blip Collage:  In the afternoon, Mr Mole and I drove to Headlands Dunes (northeast Ohio) hoping to actually see some migrating birds.  We had a partially strenuous walk in the sand dunes, and a pleasant walk in the forest and along the beach.  Due to an invasion of bush honeysuckle in the forest, we kept getting wafts (or whiffs?) of the beautiful scent.  We saw a few deer in the dunes and on the beach, but only song sparrows and the dreaded swifts at a distance.  We headed back to the parking lot and took folding chairs to a spot near the forest edge under the tall cottonwoods.  Voila!  Birds!  And photogs who visit there every year.  We heard, but didn't see northern flickers, many Baltimore orioles, warblers of various kinds, cowbirds, etc.  I was thrilled to blip 3 birds and not very well at that.  Oh well.  Maybe next week!  The Headlands Dunes is the northernmost terminus on the Buckeye Trail.  Huh.  News to me.  On the way home we drove through Mentor Marsh and Lagoon where I blipped the heron.  So much to see there but no time left today.

Thanks for your visits and comments.  I've been overloaded with distractions lately on my end...