Greetings,
Our Ornithology lab on Spetember 12, 2009 was quite enjoyable. We travelled to Lake Hope near the Iron Furnaces in Vinton county, Ohio. It was sunny and about 17 degrees celcius. WE strated observing birds at 0750 and ended at 1015. Throughout this time I heard at least three American Crows calling,one Carolina Chickadee, saw two female goldfinches, and heard two White Breasted Nuthatches calling.
As confirmed by Dr. Miles I also heard a White Eyed Vireo calling, saw a a Gray Catbird, and one Rose Breasted Grosebeak in non breeding plumage and was identified as a feamle using our field guides–the white srtipes on her head and her size helped identify her—-we could not see any rose color on her breast.
We began to walk down farther on the trail and saw:
1-downy woodpecker– gleaning
3-ruby throated hummingbirds–flying overhead Susan and I spotted them
1-northern flicker calling
1-great blue heron perched on a snag at the edge of the wetland area
wood warblers but were not able to identify species
tufted titmouse-calling
Belted Kingfisher-Chattering by the water–pointed out by Dr. Miles
Hooded Warbler-saw in top of trees
Yellow Warbler -singing–confirmed by Dr. Miles
At the end of our visit the class observed a Turkey Vulture soaring overhead , Carolina Wren perched in a tree on the edge of the forest as we were leaving.
Julie Gillem
