birds
Upcoming Webinars from the Ohio Woodland Stewards Program
Mark your calendars for these upcoming webinars provided by the Ohio Woodland Stewards Program’s – Friday’s Escape to the Forest. Registration links are below.
Shorebirds Identification – https://go.osu.edu/shorebirds
Management: Deer and Habitat – https://go.osu.edu/deer
Spotting the Spot: a National and State Update on Spotted Lanternfly – https://go.osu.edu/spotthefly
Timber Rattlesnake Ecology and Conservation in Ohio – https://go.osu.edu/herps
Common Nighthawk Migration
The signs of fall are starting to show. Just this week, I saw upward of 50 common nighthawks in one sighting during the evening hours. These are typically a solitary bird and about the only time they are seen is in the evenings when they feed. As I understand it, they will form loose flocks for foraging and migration and this is the time of year that starts. They will swoop about just above the treeline along open fields as they feed on flying insects. There is a very distinct white patch on each wing. Despite the name “nighthawk”, they are grouped in a small category of birds called “Goatsuckers”, which is a name that originated in medieval times from a wrongly-held belief that they suckled on goats a night.
Need more info?: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Nighthawk/id
Spring migration
Some personal observations on wildlife in the area:
I had some free time early on this Saturday morning so dashed out to the Muskingum River to scout out the waterfowl. Here is what I know I saw:
- 3 blue winged teal
- 1 wood duck
- 1 coot
- osprey
- kingfishers
- red bellied woodpecker
- hairy woodpecker
All sorts of smaller birds but I am out of practice with these and I was primarily concerned with the waterfowl anyways.
What I thought was my highlight of the morning was the river otter that I stared down for about two minutes. It was not too happy with me—hissing and growling.
There was a flock of 20 waterbirds which were unfortunately too far out for me to confirm but I am placing my bet on bufflehead and possibly lesser scaup and canvasback. I could make out the white sides on some and white on the heads of others but that was as close as I could get for detail. Another four of the flock were larger birds but again I was too far out to distinguish–hope to get back and see what I can see again later. It will take higher powered binoculars than what I was carrying to see across the pond.
Unconfirmed bald eagle (I know they are in the area and it was behind the trees before I could get a full look)