It’s been a minute since I’ve last posted, and for that I am apologetic. It has been a rough road for me of late, as I battle my ongoing depression. No, you simply cannot take a magic pill and it goes away. No, you simply cannot wear a smile and pretend all is well and it goes away. For me, it appears to be a constant, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, and I am increasingly closer to exiting.

It’s been a year of great disappoint, and also of wonderful excitement. COVID destroyed plans for many, including me and my birding hopes, but I also made some really great new friends along the way, a couple of which stand out. The year would see my trip to Puffinhome in ruins, and also plans for my first Biggest Week in Birding Festival, among other festivals.

But I have also achieved some of my beginning objectives, including making 2020 the year of the warbler for me. I think that I ended up with 23 individual species observed, including my target species and most beautiful, the Golden-winged. Also I saw the return of my very first warbler, the Black-throated Green, which I hadn’t seen since my teens in the woodlands of Maine. I owe much of my “warblering” to my good friend, Joan Scharf, one of the luminaries of Lake County birding. Joan and I had an amazing day in mid-May at Mentor Marsh, which will always stick out in my memories for me, in addition to many trips to Lake County hotspots. Another bird not seen by me since my early teens, the Little Blue Heron made an appearance at Mentor this past spring, and I was quite fortunate to see it.

I remember starting the 2020 year off on the roadways of far western Ohio chasing down a Snowy Owl, Eurasian-collared Dove and Prairie Falcon; I ticked the Falcon, but dipped on the others. It took me three tries with 3-hour drives one way in order to see the Prairie for all of about two minutes. It was worth it, and was part of the start of my second career as a birder (not bird-watcher, noooo…. I jest!). If there is one regret that I have, it’s that I missed the entirety of the fall shorebird migration, and I love shorebirds! I just couldn’t get myself out, and the one bird I missed but wanted was a Hudsonian Godwit.

Now, I’m in the process of planning out the new year, one that will hopefully be more enriching for me as I chase down more birds. I am actively pre-planning how to get my first 100 in January, a thing here in Ohio, and will be in the fields on January 1st! I am tempted to count only the birds that I can see, versus ticking off the ones I can hear; still not sure about this more hardcore approach, but it always frustrates me when I cannot see the bird, such as the Blue-winged Warbler, which I never saw last year, but actively heard. I do hope to make much greater use of my scope in the new year as well, looking for those sea ducks, as well as the new library I put together last year.

I also have greater hopes for my blog going into the new year. I am hoping to finally begin writing reviews of birding gear, books and other stuffs, and to also provide explanations on how to bird specific hotspots and pass along tips that I’ve gotten from others. I believe in a wide open birder’s exchange, where there are no cliques or private groups, or GATEKEEPERS. We must all work together to make our hobby better and more inviting and accessible to all, not just the top 100 in Ohio. Hopefully, I can do my part in that, and if my writing brings just one new birder into the fold, I will have been successful.

the end.

I went birding this morning for like the first time really in months, and was fortunate to see many nimble and confusing fall warblers flitting around all over, with Chimney Swifts circling above and Eagles soaring further above them. It was a beautiful first-day-of-fall morning, but likely the end of the fall migration for the most part. For warblers, I managed to catch the following: Tennessee, Nashville, Redstart, Northern Parula, Bay-breasted, Blackburnian, Blackpoll, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Cape May, and Magnolia. Not a bad catch for a late September morning.

Sadly, there were no shorebirds in appearance. I totally missed the entire fall shorebird migration it seems. I’ve personally been in a funk since probably June, and outside of seeing the Booby this month, have not ventured out into the field at all. Yes, depression can deprive one of even their greatest passions, and sadly it cost me the entire shorebird migration season, with hopes dashed for any Godwits or Plovers. But I cannot really complain. My 2020 total stands at a respectable 197 total species for the year, a year in which I recorded 25 Warbler species, the highlight of which was getting to observe a Golden-winged Warbler in early May – sadly I did not get a pic of that one as it was extra flitty!

Time now to start planning for 2021…

Yers, that’s right! The last week of August into the first week of September, a local Ohio community served as a temporary home to a Brown Booby. Why is this special? Because the Brown Booby is typically found in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. So this immature Brown Booby was several hundreds of miles away from its typical range. Speculation is that a storm, perhaps a hurricane, carried it up to us in Ohio.

The Brown Booby above landed in my backyard, at the Nimisila Reservoir in Akron, Summit County, Ohio. It was first discovered some time around August 23rd, and was observed up to about September 3rd. Hundreds of people make the trek to Nimisila to observe the reservoir’s most famous visitor, the first sighting of this species in the State.

Sadly, nature took its course with the Brown Booby. One morning, a birder was visiting to view it and check up on it, but found no bird; instead, he discovered a single wing, floating in the waters just below the Booby’s favorite tree perch. The Booby apparently became a meal for a predator. Initial speculation was an immature Peregrine Falcon that had been harassing it earlier in the week, but that was unlikely due to the size of the Booby and the wing being left behind. Some think it was a Great Horned Owl who grabbed it in the night; owls have been known to take apart their prey. In any case, no matter who got to the Brown Booby, many were sadden by this news, including myself, as I had only just visited with it on the 1st of September. He was such a special visitor for us in a year full of disappointment. Long live the Brown Booby of Ohio, he was loved, and will be missed!

I am a member of the Ohio Ornithological Society, and I was proud to notice that, in their latest edition of their publication “The Cardinal: Winter 2019-2020,” I had an entry included. In the winter of 2020, I got the opportunity of observing Snow Geese in Mahoning, Ohio – I must say that they were initially found by another birder. A friend, who happens to be the Photo Editor, mentioned they were looking for images, so I submitted my Snow geese:

Even though my name was mis-spelled, it was a nice recognition, albeit a small one in a year filled with relative disappointment. This week, I was to have been in Maine attending the Audubon Society’s Hog Island Field Ornithologist workshop, and finally observing Puffins.

So in northern Ohio, we had been expecting a last, final wave of spring migrants, again based upon data from the Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) website. It seems that it came, and went just as quickly.

Numerous reports abounded yesterday of a great number of birds along the shores of Lake Erie. From Wendy Park in Cleveland, to Erie Street Cemetery, to Headlands Dunes State Park, there were reports of large numbers of migrants, both on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday even saw the discovery of a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at Wendy Park. My birding friend, Joan Scharf, reported a good number of passerines at Headlands Dunes yesterday, and today is dad dead. Everything has moved along, having stopped to stoke up for two days. I had a decent morning – for me – at Headlands, with Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, several Least Flycatcher, Scarlet Tanager, Blackpoll Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, numerous Yellow Warbler, and several Vireos, especially Red-eyed.

Warbler reports were especially good at Wendy Park, according to eBird reports, with lots of variety and number. There were even sightings of three Connecticut Warblers and also Mourning Warblers, in addition to the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. There were huge numbers of Yellow-bellied and Willow Flycatchers, a push of over 700 estimated Cedar Waxwings, and 21 varieties of warbler. These numbers have fallen off significantly today.

So, it would seem that the third, and final, projected spring migration wave has come, and gone. No doubt there’ll be some ‘clean-up,’ but most of the birbs have moved along to their northern nesting grounds, and only fall awaits, for their return through to winter.