Yesterday I traveled to Chagrin River Park. I haven’t been there in a really long time, and it was fun to be back there birding. The park has not changed much in the over three years since last there, except for a bit of an expansion of its boggy and pond parts; more water seems to have filled in, which was nice as I saw three Mallards there. Sadly, the Screech Owl was not visible in any of the nesting boxes, so that was a dip on him, and the one bird I really had wanted to see – Rufous-sided Towhee, yes I still call it that – was also a dip. But I did manage to tick over 20 species, led by the cute, fun White-throated Sparrow. They were all over the park yesterday, as were the resident locals, including Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, and Northern Cardinal. The Nuthatches and Chickadees are so tame that I managed to get very close to them, and that was fun. Next time, I have to remember to bring seeds with me; they will eat out of your hand. One FOY bird I did manage to see were Common Grackle, so I now have 54 species for the year, which is fine considering I started late in earnest.

As for migrants, a smattering of warblers is showing up at various places in the state; Yellowthroat, Pine, Palm, the usual suspects early on. Killdeer have also been reported, as have Lesser Yellowlegs, so movement is occurring. I checked my Nimislia Reservoir hotspot the other day, but no Yellow-rumped Warblers in sight, nor anything else actually. I’m figuring in a couple of weeks, the Yellow-rumped will be back, as well as the Pine, which loves the very tall pine trees there. In terms of movement, BirdCast does have their national live migration map up and running and here is the look from late last night:

So I expect activity to pick up significantly in the next couple of weeks as we continue with duck migration, and enter into shorebird movement. Overall, I am wondering if this year will be an early migration for everything due to climate change – it’s a 59F February day here right now in NE Ohio. It will be interesting to see when peak migration of warblers is this year; in 2020, on May 16th, I had a 76 species day with 19 warbler species. I’m hoping to blow that record apart this year.

May for me is really going to be busy. Thinking of my birding schedule, the festival days start off next month on the 9th with the Shreve Migration Sensation, then take a break until May 8-10th, when I’ll be out at the Biggest Week in American Birding, my very first time attending. The following weekend is the Mosquito Lake Big Birding Weekend, where I’ll be participating in bird walks both Saturday and Sunday. Interspersed with these May events will be several trips to Mentor Lagoons, Headlands Dunes State Park, and Wendy Park, looking for migrants. My targeted species this year is the Golden-winged Warbler, along with Kirtland’s and Cerulean. I am also hoping to catch a Marbled Godwit this spring as well. I should see a Kirtland’s because on my trip to Grayling, MI in early June, but I would really love to see it at Magee beforehand. I am also truly hoping to see a Golden-winged this year, as 2020 was the last time I saw my favorite warbler.