Birding at East Fork

I spent the morning birding the south side of East Fork Lake today with the Cincinnati Bird Club. Lots of the usual people were there, and a couple of new faces, too.

trekking down to the lake

We started at the lake, looking for waterfowl and gulls. Bob, our trip leader, was hoping for a 3 gull day, but was anticipating Ring-billed, Herring, and Boneparte's Gulls. Imagine our surprise when the third species of the day turned out to be a rare Franklin's Gull instead of the more likely Boneparte's.

scanning the gull flock for rarities

Two of these things are not like the other,
two of these things don't belong.

Mary Ann, you can see better
if you look through the scope!

A planned walk along the "turkey trail," our favorite sparrow haunt, was abandoned when we discovered recent bush hogging had cleared the weedy field, but representatives of the four expected sparrow species - Song, Field, Swamp, and White-throated - were found in smaller patches across the road. This spot was lucky though, for a tree full of Eastern Bluebirds,

and a cooperative American Crow.

I saw 8 deer during the course of the morning. Here's is one of the does:
and this is the only buck. I wonder if they know that gun season starts tomorrow?
We had a decent trip list - I got 41 species, including 6 of the 7 expected woodpeckers, and at least two people on the trip had Life Birds (Black Vulture for one woman, Red-headed Woodpecker for another man.) A six-woodpecker day is reason for celebration in my book, even if the Pileated was "heard only." The only woodpecker I missed was the winter visitor, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Canada Goose
Lesser Scaup
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Franklin's Gull
Great Blue Heron
Killdeer
Red-tailed Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Mourning Dove
Red-headed Woodpecker (several!)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Brown Creeper
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird (lots!)
European Starling
Northern Cardinal
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Gulls: Love 'em or leave 'em?

As an inland birder my gull knowledge is limited, which probably accounts at least in part for the way my eyes glaze over when confronted by a large flock of white birds on a beach. To really know your gulls, you need to be on a coast. Even Lake Erie has a good variety of gulls, but here in southern Ohio, we are pretty much limited to our ubiquitous, year-round resident Ring-billeds (alternately called "garbage gulls" or "mall gulls" for their opportunistic feeding habit) and a couple of winter visitors - juvenile Herring Gulls and winter plumaged Bonapartes. So, it is no wonder I have little experience in identifying these guys. Add to that the various plumages (summer, winter, juvenile) and the fact that some of the large gulls take four years to reach adulthood, and you can find me firmly rooted in the old boys' club, as in "No Gulls Allowed."

We only fear what we do not know or understand, so perhaps I need a better perspective on the whole Laridae family. When the word went 'round on the Cincinnati Bird Club web site and the Ohio Birds listserv that two FRANKLIN'S GULLS were cohabitating with the motley ring-billed crew on East Fork Lake's south swimming beach, I thought I would drop in and try for these potential life birds.

In just a few moments of picking through the gulls loafing on the beach, I came across two that looked different. (Pause for the Sesame Street song: "Two of these things are not like the others, two of these things just do not belong...")

Keeping in mind that I have a real ghetto digiscoping set-up (as in, I hand-hold my cheap point-and-shoot digital camera up to the ocular lens of my inexpensive spotting scope, trying to avoid vignetting and hoping my hands don't shake too much), here are your photos of Franklin Gulls.


Kinda cute, no? In breeding plumage, Franklin's Gulls have a black hood like Laughing Gulls and Bonaparte's Gulls, and a rosy bloom on their breast. In winter, they have a gray cheek instead.

the top of Franklin's head

These birds didn't fly, so I couldn't see the white band near the tips of their wings, another distinguishing field mark.

Are YOU talkin' about ME?

Franklin's are small gulls, between the size of Laughing Gulls (16-17") and Bonaperte's (13"). Size is hard to determine in the field, unless you have a known landmark in your binocular or scope view. Luckily, the two Franklin's decided to mingle with the hoi polloi and joined the Ring-billeds. Ring-billeds, by the way, are about 19".

Ring-billed, left and Franklin's, right

Ring-billed gull, center,
flanked by two Franklins

Now, I have seen all 4 species of gulls we can expect in SW Ohio. I can quit!

Two by Two

Wednesday is my day to be in the office at 11:00am, so I sometimes run errands or sneak in some early morning birding before work. Knowing that there were two Franklin's Gulls hanging around the south swimming beach at East Fork Lake State Park, I left the house early in order to chase these potential life birds.

On the road to the lake, I encountered 4 white-tailed deer on the side of the road. I slowed way down as I approached, ready for them to bolt. Nothing doing. These girls barely noticed me. One paused mid-mouthful to scratch her ear with a hind foot while I reached for my camera. They didn't even bat an eye while I "shot" them.


Not so these two guys. The minute these tom turkeys saw my car pull into a parking lot they were on the run. I managed two quick snaps, and this was the better one.


Did I get the Franklin's Gulls? See next post.

Sunday at East Fork

East Fork State Park encompasses 4870 acres of land in southwestern Ohio, with a 2100 acre lake created by damming the East Fork of the Little Miami River. Like all state parks in Ohio, there are many ways to enjoy the outdoors here, including swimming, camping, boating and fishing, trails for hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking, and generally enjoying nature and the out-of-doors. I bird here on occasion, especially after attending a couple of guided bird walks, when I learned the "good" spots.

Today seemed like a good day to be out and about. I left home at 7:15am, in order to get to the lake just after dawn. I started at the south swimming beach, home to dozens of resident Ring-billed Gulls.

click to enlarge

They were the first birds I saw, after some crows that is, and were followed shortly after by a Great Blue Heron. (Far right of the above photo.)


While working on getting a decent photo of the gulls, I was distracted by a chipping call from a sapling. Following the sound, I found a small songbird. Its pointy bill and quick movements proclaimed it to be a warbler, and I was prepared with my "Confusing Fall Warbler" excuses - too small, too quick, back-lit, hidden by leaves - when the bird obligingly bobbed its tail repeatedly. Bingo! Palm Warbler, confirmed by good looks at its field marks through my spotting scope. The tail bob behavior is classic for Palms, and it is the way I identified my Life Palm Warbler, a fall bird at Crooked Run Nature Preserve five years ago.

While keeping my eyes on the warbler, I tried to put a face to the new sound over my head. It might be --- could it be? --- Yes, I think it is ---

click photo to hear an osprey

An Osprey! This photo doesn't do it justice, but it was the only image I could salvage. The digiscoped shots, taken when he teed up on the tree in the lower right, were out of focus, thanks to the slow shutter speeds necessary in the dim light. Cool bird!

After the Osprey, the beach seemed slow, so I headed out to a grassland area that is being managed for turkeys. No turkeys today, but I did have a good walk around.


Most of the birds were LBJs (Little Brown Jobs) that refused to sit still for good IDs. I did have a number of Field Sparrows and a couple of Song Sparrows, as well as a fair number of (non) Indigo Buntings. The males have discarded their brilliant summer blues, exchanging them for plain brown fall attire, but one or two still felt randy enough to sing for me.

New England Asters were in bloom, but my photos were no good. I picked up a new goldenrod, and am still working on the ID.


I think this white flower may be Pearly Everlasting. Anybody have a better idea?


There is one part of this trail which is the birdiest place of the whole prairie. It is in a low depression which is often underwater in the spring, in a spot where the grassland meets the woods. This spot was jumping this morning.

There were cardinals, towhees, goldfinches galore, and yes, I got to use my CFW excuses. (Too small, too far away for my binoculars, too quick for the scope, too many big leaves in the way.)

I stood in the middle of this treasure and took a series of photos nearly 360 degrees, to try to share with you the feeling of being there.


After all the work, it turned out to be too small to convey the sensation I wanted you to feel, so here are a few of the stills.

And yes, I know, the colors are crap. That's the fault of the light, not me and my camera.

One other stop on the way out of the park, at a parking lot commonly referred to as the "two ponds" area, since there are two ponds here. This one is a reliable source for Wood Ducks, and there were two here again today. If you click to enlarge this picture, and if you have a good imagination, you might see them in the distance.


These pitiful photos are why I devote most of my birding time to looking and very little to photography. Maybe some day, a good camera might be in my future.

Trip list:
Wood Duck 2
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 1
OSPREY 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 4
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 1
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Palm Warbler 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
American Goldfinch