Being a Volunteer Trail Monitor for the Medina County Park District has its perks. I get to wear cool Medina County Park District hiking gear, meet lots of great folks and see Sandhill Cranes! But it’s not all glamour and excitement, I do work, see the litter I picked up this morning? Look at the size of that hook, yikes!

I’m still working towards my goal of finding and listing 100 different bird species in Medina County by year’s end. I have 83 on my list now, having recently added the Eastern Kingbird, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, and this morning’s SANDHILL CRANE – which has just made my day!!

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I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s 16th Annual Medina County Earth Day Celebration at the Buffalo Creek Retreat. There’s also a Family Conservation walk that starts next door at Hubbard Valley. I was at Hubbard Valley on Sunday and the wildflowers, especially the Trillium, are breathtakingly beautiful.

White Trillium is Ohio’s State Wildflower and one of many plants whose seeds are spread by ants.

Trillium’s not the only plant getting a head start because of an early spring. Look how tall the Garlic Mustard is! This invasive species has the potential to carpet our landscape, crowd out our native wildflowers and make them a thing of the past. Fortunately the Medina County Park District has a yearly “Garlic Mustard pull” program that helps keep it in check.

Photos: Hubbard Valley Park/Diana Komjati/April 15, 2012.

 

Most of yesterday was spent outdoors photographing wildflowers and looking at birds. I took a short break for some girl time with my mother and niece, while my husband, Tim, pushed on without me. Wouldn’t you know it, a Sandhill Crane decided to take a break at the same time. One flew over Tim’s head and landed in the farm field on the west side of the Chippewa Nature Preserve/Chippewa Inlet Trail South. Tim didn’t have his camera and I missed an opportunity to add it to my 2012 bird list. That’s what makes birding so exciting — you just never know what you’re going to see (or not see) and when.

Photo: Mississippi Sandhill Cranes/Steve Hillebrand/USFWS.

Last week I encountered a Good Samaritan at PetSmart. He was holding a baby rabbit that he had just rescued from crows outside his workplace. He said that the crows had killed one bunny and he could not in good conscience leave the second one to face the same fate. Now he was trying to decide what to do with it.

I find “orphaned” wildlife in the spring quite often. I have to determine if the parent has just left the baby temporarily or if the baby really does need help, as in this case. The ODNR Division of Wildlife has some great tips on their website that I’ve found quite helpful. Click here to read their advice and to find a list of wildlife rehabilitators.

Baby birds are the very worst for me. They hop around in my yard learning to fly while their parents look on. My neighbor still teases me about the morning he watched me (dressed in my bathrobe), use a broom to chase a cat out of my backyard, while also fighting off a couple of adult Robins that were diving at my head. Thankfully there are no photos.

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Photo: Wild Rabbit. Tracey Moreland/Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Snow??? Spring-like weather all month and today I wake to a thin blanket of snow on the ground — only in Ohio! Let’s hope our beautiful wildflowers and other flowering plants weren’t nipped.

As you may already know, I’m working towards my goal of finding and listing 100 different bird species in Medina County by year’s end. I have 72 on my list, having added the Warbling Vireo and Bonaparte’s Gull last week. I’m looking forward to including the waves of warblers that will be arriving soon. I was told that Yellow-rumped Warblers are already being spotted in parts of Medina County. I’ll be on the lookout for them this week – if it would just stop snowing!!!

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Photo: Yellow-rumped Warbler. Wikipedia.

I’ve been seeing American Bald Eagles around the Chippewa Lake area quite often recently. I hope to never lose the feeling of wonderment and awe that I get each time I look up and discover one overhead.

I’ve been steadily working towards my goal of finding and listing 100 different bird species in Medina County by year’s end. I have 70 on my list now, having recently added the Brown-headed Cowbird, Wild Turkey, Forster’s Tern, Cormorant and Great Egret.

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Photo: American Bald Eagle. Chippewa Lake, Ohio. © Copyright 2012 Timothy Komjati.

Sunday I spotted three Great Egrets at Chippewa Lake in Ohio. There were also Cormorants, Loons, Pied-billed Grebes and lots of Ruddy Ducks. I also saw my first Forster’s Tern. I’m not into watching Gulls (they all look alike to me) but when my husband kept telling me to look, I looked. There among the flock of Ring-billed Gulls was a Forster’s Tern! Now I’m hooked on watching Gulls and Terns, too.

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Photo: Great Egret. © Copyright 2012 Matthew J. Platz.

 

Another sign of spring, unfortunately, is fishing line and tackle litter. Once you’ve witnessed waterfowl trapped or mangled by this, you’ll be as diligent as I am about picking it up. The fishing line and fly shown above was found in the grass at Lake Medina last week.

This morning I’ll be heading back to Chippewa Lake to remove a large tangle of fishing line I found there yesterday. My husband, Tim, is always cautioning me to watch out for hooks and I’m following his advice. I’ll be returning with a knife so that I can cut if safely from the large piece of scrap metal that it’s tangled with.

I’m moving my cute little Swiss Army knife (a gift from Tim) from my purse to my trail pack so it will be handy next time. Looks like I have a good excuse to get a second one for my purse. Hmm, should I buy one with a Tiger or Zebra pattern?

 

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Look at the teeth on this guy! I’m not a swimmer and now I have another reason to stay out of the water. This fisherman was kind enough to let me take a few photos before he released this feisty fella back into the Chippewa Inlet on Saturday.

 

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I never thought of birding as a physically challenging activity until I had my first case of “Birder’s Neck” — at least that’s what I like to call it. It’s a dull burning ache in the back of my neck whenever I look skyward. It’s usually caused by watching warblers, those tiny, colorful, migrating songbirds that perch high over our heads in the tops of trees.

In another month, waves of warblers will begin to pass through Ohio on their way to Canada. This will be very helpful to me with my goal of finding and listing 100 different bird species in Medina County by year’s end. Yesterday, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird flew past my window and became number 65 on my list!

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