Paulding County, Ohio birding, outdated reports from Sep 1999 through 2004:

 BLACK SWAMP NATURE CENTER, RESERVOIR, COMMISSIONER'S PONDS, STOKELY PONDS

20052/10/5 Found hundreds lining the river from Power Dam south to Five Span Marina with a few Mallards and Common Mergansers. 2/25/5 232/143 Two ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, a Harrier and a Kestrel at Grandpa's old farm. 3/5/5 From OhioBirds@Envirolink, the Dunakins: " There are small signs of a thaw at the edge of many ponds, and the mighty Maumee brought us both a pair of COMMON MERGANSERS and their little cousin, a lone HOODED. Then, in a true birding moment, a TURKEY VULTURE suddenly soared high over Flat Rock Creek as we motored into the Village of Paulding. What encouraging signs!! Oh, and Micki spotted our first FOX SPARROW kicking up a fuss in the back yard. What have we done to deserve such bounty?!" 3/18/5 Haven't been here for a very long time. North Sewage Lagoon 400+ birds here, including at least 8 Bufflehead and a few Pintails, but mostly RingNecked Ducks and Lesser/GREATER SCAUP. South Sewage Lagoon empty. Reservoir Empty. Westernmost Stokely Pond 1 Bufflehead Middle Stokely Pond Canadas, Mallards and RingNecked Ducks Weedy Stokely Pond 3 COOTS and about 50 Ringnecked Ducks and a few Mallards. Eastern Stokely Pond 6 CANVASBACKS, a Hooded Merganser, 6 RingNecked Ducks and Canada Geese. Nature Center 6 RingNecked Ducks, 6 Canadas. St Paul Cem Mallards and Canadas. Enroute home on US24 at CR105 two WHITE-FRONTED GEESE! And from Ohio-Birds@Envirolink, the Dunakins, " Today brought a big improvement both in numbers (several hundred) and in species (12 species of ducks) in the Paulding-Antwerp area, but the big story was the pair of Greater White-fronted Geese that graced the Paulding Sewage Lagoons this afternoon, swimming comfortably about in the company of a pair of Canadas. This is only our fourth Paulding County record of these geese in the past 20 years! Other waterbirds of note included Pied-billed and Horned Grebes, Pintail, Hooded Merganser, Canvasback, and Greater Scaup. A nice mixture and a fairly good number, now that the water is all open. That and a beautiful day- who could ask for anything more? 3/26/5 From OhioBirds@Envirolink: "Birding is a matter of seconds at times. Micki and I were visiting with fellow birder Scott Myers at the Paulding Reservoir, looking for anything of interest and finding nothing but a few Ruddies and Am. Wigeon. Scott left as we spotted a sleeping bird that looked rather interesting and I went to retrieve the scope from the truck. On the way back up the dike, a pair of birds flew by and set down on the other side of the reservoir. These turned out to be WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, a first for us this year! The arrival of the Scoters and a small flock of Ring Necks awoke our sleeping fellow, who turned from a sleeping blob into a nice RED-NECKED GREBE in breeding plumage!! Two great species in a matter of seconds after seeing virtually nothing when we first arrived. Had we left when Scott did, we'd have seen nothing! A matter of seconds!! Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin Antwerp, O. 3/27/5 Rushed to check on the RED-NECKED GREBE before Easter dinner so didn't count, but ducks were EVERYWHERE here today: Coots, Redheads, Hooded Mergansers, Bufflehead, Mallards, Scaup, RingNecked, Wigeon, Ruddy Ducks. 4/5/5 Audubon Sanctuary Only wildflower found in my short visit was Harbinger of Spring. Birds were fairly normal (10 BlueWInged Teal, 20 Wood Ducks, Bluebirds, Phoebes, Tree Swallows etc), except for a rail that flushed and flew into the sun, which I presume (based on a deep water marsh and the date) to be a Sora, my first of the year 4/10/5 Stokely Pond (westernmost) Embarrassed to say that I just saw my first Horned Grebe of the season here, with a pair of RingNecked Ducks, and 2 pairs of Mallards. The easternmost hada about 20 RingNecked Ducks. All four Stokely Ponds had Canada Geese. Sewage Lagoons South was empty, but north had 4 pair of BlueWinged Teal, 3 pairs of Shovelers, 3 pairs of Ruddy Ducks, 2 pairs of RingNecked Ducks, 2 pairs of Mallards. Paulding Reservoir 11 RedBreasted Mergansers, all female, 5 Coots, 5 Gadwall and 3 Bufflehead. Nature Center Canada Geese St Paul Cem Pond Canada Geese Thomas Marsh Mallards, Blue WingedTeal, 2 pairs of GreenWinged Teal, 2 Solitary Sandpipers, and my first Greater Yellowlegs of the year. And from OhioBirds@Envirolink: " Migration continues here as elsewhere. Yesterday, we saw our first flock of Pectoral Sandpipers at the Thomas Wetlands, and this morning my wife spotted a pair of Tundra Swans flying over our place northeast of Antwerp. This is our only April record for this species! Reminds me of the final line of that great ol' Sci Fi movie "The Thing from Outer Space:" "Watch the skies! Keep watching the skies!" Good advice, especially for UFO nuts and birders! Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin, Antwerp, O." 4/17/5 Black Swamp Audubon Sanctuary at Antwerp Home again, pick up two companions and walk the paths: lots of firsts-of-the-year since I've been gone: Catbird, Wilson's Snipe, Barn Swallow, Swamp Sparrow, BlueGray Gnatcatchers, Bloodroot, Toothwort, Spring Beauty, Common Blue and Downy Yellow Violets, Yellow and White Trout-Lily, Sessile Trillium, Early Meadow Rue, Spring Azures, Cabbage Butterflies, Tree Frogs and four-inch Tadpoles! Some I have to go back and check on are Dutchman's Breeches and Kidney-Leaf Buttercup. Other neat stuff included a pretty tame pair of Greater Yellowlegs, lots of Leopard Frogs all around the marsh, five Whitetailed Deer watching us watch them. Even the mundane are so nice Wood Ducks in all the duck boxes (except for one with a Screech Owl in it), BlueWinged Teal, Canada Geese on nests, lots of Tree Swallows, Bluebirds, Phoebes, Robins, Chipping/Field/Song Sparrows, Turkey Vultures. 4/30/5 Black Swamp Antwerp Sanctuary Yellow, Black-and-White, and Palm Warblers, BlueHeaded and Warbling Vireos, RubyCrowned Kinglets <blush> were all new for the season here. Also of note were a YellowBellied Sapsucker, a Belted Kingfisher, Large-Flowered Trillium, Shepherd's Purse, Black and Garlic Mustard, and Swamp Buttercup. 4/31/5 "The last day of March brought with it some nasty winds and an influx of sparrows and swallows into the County, including Chipping, Field, White-crowned Sparrows, Tree and Barn Swallows (our earliest Paulding County sighting by several days!) Not bad for a day when both ducks and people kept low to avoid getting their feathers ruffled. Bird long and prosper! Doug & Micki Dunakin Antwerp, O" --from OhioBirds@Envirolink 5/5/5 Black Swamp Audubon Sanctuary at Antwerp Bob and Jo Ann Zabonick not only found a Sora here tonight, but photographed it! 5/8/5Black Swamp Audubon Sanctuary at Antwerp, late in the day about 5pm. Two Green Herons and an Eastern Kingbird were new for the year, TWO conspicuous SORAS were best birds, Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpipers were there too. Also my first Pearl Crescent butterflies of the year. Warblers were few, and only BayBreasted was new. Chokecherry, Viburnum, Mayapples, Field Chickweed in bloom. Single Wild Turkey at 230/192. 5/9/5 Also from OhioBirds@Envirolink: "...As I was still sipping my wakeup glass of juice, Micki called me to inform that she was surrounded by warblers. Wonderful winged creatures were nearly falling out of the trees before her eyes. She had, I believe, 15 species on our property in the matter of about an hour, including a feisty, singing YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT who seemed determined to outsing the rest of the bird population by himself. Luckily, the fellow was obliging enough to wait for me to find my way to the woods a few hours later. No timid soul he, this Chat flew up to an exposed perch and proceeded to run through his insane repertoire for a good five minutes before returning to the safety of his cover. And to think that sometimes you never get even a glimpse of these fellows! In addition to some of the birds she had seen earlier, I found a lone PINE WARBLER, and Micki added another species later, bringing our total to 17 species of warblers for the day, with multiple sightings or hearings for several species. Add to that a nice mixture of vireos and a few very obliging thrushes, and you begin to believe that there is a big push afoot (awing?) in the bird world. All in all, not too shabby for one of those forgotten, birdless counties on the edge of nowhere! Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin Antwerp, O. (Somewhere just east of Indiana)" 5/13/5 From OhioBirds@Envrirolink: "Greetings from the edge of Ohio, Today was a great birding day for some and so-so for others,depending on where you were in our lovely county. My wife chose the right path, the wooded streambanks where dwell the warblers, and I chose the water's edge, where my big thrill was scaring off six Double-crested Cormorants at the Paulding Reservoir. Fortunately, I did come across a small herd of Semipalmated Sandpipers at the Thomas Wetlands, so the day wasn't a total loss. Micki's visit to a local woods ended with a nice total of 14 species of warblers, among which were Tennessee, Nashville, N. Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Yellow-rumped, Bay-breasted, Black-and-White, Am. Redstart, Ovenbird, C. Yellowthroat and the Skulkers: Mourning (2), Connecticut (This is a 4 star bird out this way.) Her efforts also included Philadelphia Vireo (always a good bird here), Gray-cheeked Thrush (1st of the season), and Scarlet Tanager. The moral of the story- If you come to Paulding County, make sure to bird with the right Dunakin. That was what I should have done. Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin, Antwerp, O." 5/14/5 Black Swamp Audubon Sanctuary at Antwerp Micki Dunakin and Ms S. report the first Marsh Wren seen here! 5/23/5 Sewage Lagoons Black Tern as well as Chimney Swifts, Spotted Sandpipers, and all six of the swallows (including Cliff and Martins). I was pleased to find that for once Banks outnumbered the rest. Stokely Ponds/St Paul's Cemetery Pond Canada Geese & Mallards Black Swamp Nature Center 7pm andstill hearing Warblers (Yellow, Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia, Redstart etc) but the only one to reveal himself was an exhibitionist Chestnut-Sided. Domestic Columbine in a variety of colors, and Ajuga were in bloom (how'd they get here?), as well as Bullhead-Lily. Even more Canada Geese and Mallards, and a Wood Duck. Reservoir Empty 6/1/5 Bobolinks were noted while driving by at Paulding County CR117/48 and CR151/48 6/11/05 Took the slow drive early in the morning down the Defiance-PldgCoLnRd. Just west of the Bend Road was another field full of Dickcissels. Bobolinks were at Keller Rd. New blooms I stumbled on include Chicory, Catalpa, Bittersweet Nightshade, Tall Meadow-Rue, Wild Garlic, the first of the Wild Daylilies, and both Hairy Vetch and Crown Vetch (love these plants). 6/18/5 Also enroute elsewhere I found a RedHeaded Woodpecker on CR105 north of US24, a Wood Thrush at CR230/CR99, Bobolinks, gourds full of Purple Martins, and a SPOTTED SANDPIPER in a new corn field with her TWO OFFSPRING on the road. I don't know of any water nearby, but I discovered my camcorder was out of battery and moved on as the young'uns moved into the lawn on the wrong side of the road. A RingNecked Pheasant at CR230/53 thought he was hidden as long as he couldn't see me, right beside my idling car. ANOTHER MOCKINGBIRD flew across the road at CR192/220, and at Forder's Cemetery (CR192/73) were the friendliest Dickcissels and Grasshopper Sparrows.Antwerp Sanctuary I was immediately attacked upon entering by a Hackberry Butterfly, which Jaret Daniels in Butterflies of Ohio rightly described as "...exceedingly pugnacious and inquisitive, and readily dart out to investigate any passing object..." As I pulled in the parking lot, two more searched the car. My first of summer Summer Azures, Great Spangled Fritillarys, Cloudless Sulphurs,and Eyed Browns. New blooms for me were Swamp Rose, both Cattails (Common and NarrowLeaved), Horse-Nettle, and what I take to be Fragrant Water-Lily. Birds? Not so much there today. Beautiful day though, not even seventy degrees! 7/15/05 Paulding Reservoir Empty.7/23/05 Reservoir Fast power walk again but still saw Canada Goose, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, a Pectoral Sandpiper (that flew in and quickly flew out, not liking what he saw evidently), RingBilled Gull, Rock Dove, Mourning Dove, YellowBilled Cuckoo, Chimney Swift, Belted Kingfisher, Downy Woodpecker, Flicker, Pewee, Crow, Tree, RoughWinged, BANK and Barn Swallows, Robin, Catbird, Starling, Cedar Waxwing, VESPER, Savannah, Song and House Sparrows, Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, RedWinged Blackbird, Grackle, Cowbird, HouseFinch, Goldfinch. Not bad for expecting zero species! (33sp, 45", singletrack) 7/29/05 From OhioBirds@Envirolink: "...an unprecedented gathering of Egrets at the Thomas Wetlands (14 Great Egrets in all today) and our first-ever County record of Little Blue Heron at our Black Swamp Audubon Society's [Antwerp] sanctuary...in juvenile plumage...Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin. 8/2/5 From OhioBirds@Environlink: "...now, with the latest mowing, some excellent fields for those hard-to-find, open-field-loving migrants, Upland Sandpipers or, as we like to call 'em, "Uppies." I saw a small group of three yesterday in a newly-mown clover field just northwest of Haviland, and today Micki and I found nine of the little darlin's in that same field. You just gotta love those cows; otherwise, the uppies would take one look at our corn and bean fields and just pass right over our little county on their way to something better. Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin Antwerp, O." 8/3/5 Black Swamp Audubon Sanctuary, Antwerp The Little Blue Heron that showed up while I was on vacation is gone, but two spotted fawns were a great consolation prize. 8/20/05 Antwerp, BlackSwamp Audubon Sanctuary Partridge Pea and NarrowLeaved Coneflower in bloom...9/25/5 16/C has all week been only the preserve of the very common, ie Great Blue Herons, Canada Geese, Mallards, BlueWinged Teal, GreenWinged Teal, Killdeer, etc. 9/30/05 Quick tour of Reservoir, St Paul's Cem Pond, Sewage Lagoons, but only Stokely Pond west had anything of any note at all: a Great Egret and Pam's Horned Grebe.10/23/05 Took the Paulding Tour today but found nothing at the Sewage Lagoons and St Paul Cemetery Pond, only 2 Ruddy Ducks at the Stokely Ponds, and only a Canada Goose with 2 Tree Swallows at the Reservoir. Thomas Marsh had another house built even closer, and was so weedy only a Kestrel, a Harrier, a few Larks and domestic ducks (Rouen, Peking) were visible. I walked the Black Swamp Nature Center and found lotsa YellowRumped Warblers (I stopped counting at 30), my first JUNCOS of the season, 2 Wood Ducks, 2 PiedBilled Grebes, and the usuals (12 RedWinged Blackbirds, 12 Robins, 7 BlueJays, 7 Cardinals, 3 Killdeer, 3 Starlings, a RubyCrowned Kinglet, a Flicker and a REDHEADED WOODPECKER--unusual here!) 11/27/05 From Ohio-Birds: "We haven't had much to crow about lately (small pun intended), but this week has been the Week of the Mimic Thrushes! Up until Tuesday, the day before the big blow, we had a Gray Catbird lurking about in the back yard, and then today, when we were least expecting it, a Northern Mockingbird dropped into view on a sidestreet in Paulding. Now for...us northerners it is something of a rarity to find these two species at this time of year. --Doug & Micki Dunakin" 12/11/5 Sandy D. from near Oakwood sent this pic of Sandhill Cranes overhead near her home: 12/12/05 From OhioBirds@Envirolink: "My wife Micki was on her way out of the house this afternoon when she heard a flock of Sandhill Cranes passing overhead. Having heard her exclaim "Sandhills, sandhills," I rushed outside just in time to see and hear 38 of 'em in a loose V as they quickly flew past our property toward the southwest. In just a few seconds they were easily over a quarter of a mile away from us, but we could still hear them calling ere they flew out of sight. Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin, Antwerp, O" 12/14/05 Jon Diller and I in our participation in the Black Swamp Christmas Bird Count found in our area (straddling the Paulding/DefianceCoLn Rd): Canada Goose 215, Northern Harrier 3, American Kestrel 6, RedTailed Hawk 6, RingNecked Pheasant 8, Wild Turkey 46 (in 3 groups-- PlatterCreekRd/Jericho, Jericho/SR127, PauCoRd 192), RedHeaded Woodpecker 4 (SR127/PauCoRd 108), RedBellied Woodpecker 2, Downy Woodpecker 3, Rock Dove 103, Mourning Dove 134, Screech Owl 1 (Audubon Black Swamp Sanctuary) , Blue Jay 28, American Crow 6, Horned Lark 42, BlackCapped Chickadee 2, Tufted Titmouse 1, WhiteBreasted Nuthatch 4, Brown Creeper 1, Eastern Bluebird 1, European Starling 285, Cedar Waxwing 5, American Tree Sparrow 107, Song Sparrow 23, WhiteThroated Sparrow 1, WhiteCrowned Sparrow 3, DarkEyed Junco 256, SNOW BUNTING 234, Northern Cardinal 25, EASTERN MEADOWLARK 7 (SEVEN!)-- 1 at Rosedale/PauCoLn, 6 in a group at Rosedale/Jericho), BrownHeaded Cowbird 10, American Goldfinch 12, House Sparrow 283. Nasty freezing rain. On OhioBirds@Envirolink Doug Dunakin posted other highlights: "Wild Turkey 46, PILEATED WOODPECKER 2, Red-breasted Nuthatch 1, Carolina Wren 2, Eastern Bluebird - 8, Yellow-rumped Warbler - 5, SWAMP SPARROW - 1, White-throated Sparrow - 1, White-crowned Sparrow - 8, LAPLAND LONGSPUR- 7, Snow Bunting - FOUR HUNDRED, Eastern Meadowlark - THIRTEEN, RUSTY BLACKBIRD - 4 Other birds seen during count week (not yet finished) include: Great Blue Heron, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, SANDHILL CRANES" 2004 1/19 Black Swamp Audubon Sanctuary Judi S., at the meeting tonight, reported a TOWHEE and several 2/29/4 On Ohio-Birds@Envirolink: "Greetings partly thawed NW Ohio, We're finally catching up a bit with all of the activity. The Maumee let loose its ice this week, and we have had Hooded and Common Mergansers to see and enjoy. A bit of water has appeared at the Thomas Wetlands (still about 95% frozen), so today we saw two Am. Wigeon, three Pintails, and four Blacks along with a lone Coot and several hundred Mallards. Add a Rough-legged Hawk standing watch in a nearby tree, and it spells activity in our neck of the woods at last! (Well, it may not be a Prairie Falcon, but it sure beats watching Red-tails all the time!) Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin Antwerp, O" 3/2/4 Doug & Micki Dunakin on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "What a difference a day made! The Thomas Wetlands, mostly covered just a few hours before with ice, are now open. A with that opening come the arrival of new waterfowl, such as Ring-necks, Shovellers, Pintails, Wigeon and a surprising lone Canvasback. Another welcome surprise was the dramatic landing of a pair of SANDHILL CRANES in the background, looking so out of place as they set down next to a line of Mallards. Add to that the hoverings of a ROUGHLEGGED HAWK and you have the makings of a fine visit." 3/5/4 From OhioBirds@Envirolink, the Dunakins: "...Thomas Wetlands: Redheads and Ring-necks and a whole lotta waves on the shallow ponds. Paulding Reservoir: A whole lotta waves out there. Stokely-Grizzly ponds (NW edge of Paulding): smaller waves, with Redheads,Ring-necks, and a lone Pied-billed Grebe. 3/6/4 From OhioBirds@Envirolink: "Hello all, Yesterday my fiancee and I checked out the Thomas Wetlands... The Sandhill Cranes reported by the Dunakins on the second were still present on the third, but yesterday they were not found. Seen yesterday were the following: Canada Goose, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Ring-necked Duck, Redhead, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Bufflehead, Northern Harrier, Mourning Dove, Red-winged Blackbird, House Sparrow. Good birding to you all! - Scott Myers" 3/8/4 From OhioBirds@Envirolink, the Dunakins: " Thanks to the every vigilant Micki and her keen eyes, we have our first sighting of FOX SPARROWS. Three of 'em were busy foraging amid the snowflakes in our backyard. Kinda takes the edge off winter's reluctance to retreat." 3/12/4 Black Swamp Sanctuary at Antwerp Judy S. reports 40-some SANDHILL CRANES spent the night, present until 10am. 3/19/4 Doug & Micki Dunakin on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "A nice male Surf Scoter at one of the old Stokely Ponds at the west edge of the village of Paulding and our first sighting of Bluewing Teal and Wood Duck. Add a couple of Horned Grebes and way too many Canada Geese, and you have a pretty good assortment for these parts!" 3/20/4 Stokely Ponds 7:30am rushed over as soon as I read Doug's email, but no surf scoter in sight. Just a few Mallards, and Canada Geese and a drake Bufflehead . Black Swamp Audubon Society Sanctuary at Antwerp was a work day, but saw 100+ Mallards, 50 Canada Geese, a pair of Shovelers, 2 Woodcock, constant Turkey Vultures, a RedTailed Hawk, RedWinged Blackbirds, Song Sparrows, and my first-of-the-season TREE SWALLOW. The deer were pretty calm and allowed for beautiful picture-perfect viewing. 3/23/4 Haven't done a tour here for awhile so rushed to get in as much as possible before dark. Stokely Ponds 50 Canada Geese, 14 RingNecked Ducks, 12 Redheads, 8 Mallards, 4 HOODED MERGANSERS, 2 Bufflehead, 1 Lesser Scaup, 1 BlueWinged Teal and my first-of-the-season PiedBilled Grebe. Reservoir Just 3 of my first-of-the-season Ruddy Ducks, and 4 Mallards. Black Swamp Nature Center 6 Canada Geese, two WINTER WRENS, two fighting male Cardinals tumbling from a tree to my feet, and a great gander at a SWAMP SPARROW at the water's edge. 3/26/4Thomas Marsh Only 4 Shovelers and a few Mallards were visible until a cloud of ducks rose from the fields perhaps a half-mile to the north. 3/27/4 From OhioBirds@Envirolink: "As Micki was strolling through our woods [in Antwerp] this afternoon, noting the usual returning migrants, she flushed what looked like a nightjar. The bird most obligingly landed on a small limb above a wet area, providing her with excellent looks at what turned out to be a very, very, very early Whip-poor-will!! Our earliest previous sighting of this species was April 28, and we could find no reference to any overflight earlier than April 6 in northwest Ohio. (If any of the local birders had called us to report a Whip-poor-will in March, we'd have found it hard to stifle our laughter.) In addition, she also recorded five FOX SPARROWS, several PIPITS, RUSTY BLACKBIRD, and GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS. Add to this the 13 species of ducks we saw today (including our short-term resident Surf Scoter at one of the Stokely ponds at the west edge of Paulding) and the Common Loon that finally turned up at Paulding Reservoir, and you have the makins' of some very fine spring birding!" 3/28/4 Pam A. reports from her CR123/PldgCoLn home Towhees, her first Fox Sparrow, and Phoebe! Reservoir about 40 Scaup. Black Swamp Nature Center A group of GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS, the Kingfisher, a Carolina Wren and Canada Geese. Commissioner's Ponds About 300+ ducks almost all Scaup and Mallards but I didn't scope them so as not to frighten the pair of GreenWinged Teal and many Shovelers, almost at my feet! Stokely Ponds The western-most pond had 5 Bufflehead, 1 drake Lesser Scaup and 4 Canada Geese. The eastern-most marshy pond had a PiedBilled Grebe, 6 pair of RingNecked Ducks and 4 pairs of Redheads. The middle pond had 3 drake Ruddy Ducks, a hen Scaup and the best bird of the day, a gaudy male SURF SCOTER. 4/17/4 Black Swamp Audubon Sanctuary, where we worked today: at least 100 BlueWinged Teal on the marsh there, calling PiedBilled Grebes, WhiteCrowned Sparrows, and Spring Azures! Judy S. saw lots of Snipe this morning. From OhioBirds@Envirolink: "There has been some good visitation to the Thomas Wetlands outside Antwerp in beautiful, but flat Paulding County. Largely due to the near drought we are experiencing, the water is shallow and the birds like it! Today, we saw the following: L. Yellowlegs (2), G. Yellowlegs (1), Pectorals (80+), Least Sandpiper (1), Dunlin (6), Wilson's Snipe (3), plus, Lapland Longspur, all decked out in alternate plumage AMERICAN PIPIT. Now, some may scoff, but this is good shorebirdin' round these parts. We need the rain, but right now we'll take the birds! Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin, Antwerp, O" 4/18/4 Reservoir empty, but a quick walk around the Black Swamp Nature Center reveals RubyCrowned Kinglets, YellowRumped Warblers, 8 BlueWinged Teal, 8 Canada Geese, WhiteThroated Sparrows, my first-of-the season BlueGray Gnatcatcher. At the same time, my first-of-the-season Milbert's Tortoiseshell and pair of Hermit Thrushes flew up. St Paul Cemetery Pond The Great Egret and a PiedBilled Grebe kept the Canada Geese company. Stokely Ponds A single Greater Yellowlegs, a pair each of Coots, RingNecked Ducks, Mallards, BlueWinged Teal, Wilson's Snipe, 5 Bufflehead, and of course Canada Geese. Ponds by the Commissioner's Woods 125+ Ducks, mostly Lesser Scaup, Mallards, RingNecked Ducks and Ruddy Ducks, pretty evenly divided, but also two pairs of Redheads, two drake Shovelers, a drake BlueWinged Teal. Plus the obligatory 100+ Canada Geese. Strangely, at Dooley/Emerald were about 50 Pectoral Sandpipers! 4/29/4 Doug&Micki Dunakin on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "Great Egret, WILLET (at Thomas Wetlands- first in 2 years), Chimney Swift, Great-crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Lincoln's Sparrow, Bobolink, Baltimore Oriole 5/1/4 From OhioBirds@Envirolink: "The first day of May was songbird central at the Black Swamp Nature Center in Paulding. Aside from some nice birds like White-eyed Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Veery and Swainson's Thrush, there was an abundance of warbler activity. In our two hours, we tallied 13 species, including Tennessee, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Palm, WORM-EATING (always a great bird in our County), Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, KENTUCKY (our second in the County in the last two days!), Common Yellowthroat, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT (another nice one!), Add to that the ORANGE-CROWNED Micki got at home earlier, and you have "un bel di" for us Black Swampers!! Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin, Antwerp, O" 5/2/4 Black Swamp Nature Center Didn't get over until 7pm so though there were plenty of warblers, it was very quiet. 5 RoseBreasted Grosbeaks at one spot. Still picked up several firsts-for-the-year including: Tennessee, Nashville, Northern Waterthrush, Swainson's Thrush, and Ruby-Throated Hummingbird(!). Best of all was following the "Uncle-Chucks" to an AMERICAN BITTERN (first-and-probably-last-of-the-year) behind the Nature Center Building as 3 Green Herons flew up. Remarkably Bruce and Carla Wells were up birding from Lima, and as we exchanged our birding experiences here, he noted a warbler I hadn't yet seen, and I noted the Bittern. A few minutes later, we both had a new species! While driving 55mph on curvy SR 500, I noted overhead a flock of large white birds flying west to east...Sewage Lagoons I noted many ducks still on the ponds, including Northern Shoveler, Lesser Scaup, RingNecked Duck, BlueWinged Teal, Mallards, even a pair of Redheads! One lone Purple Martin sat on the wire fence with lots of RoughWinged, Barn and Tree Swallows. The Perchalski's from Van Wert were also up earlier today and noted on OhioBirds@EnvirolinK: "Driving down the road adjacent to the sewage lagoons, I was treated to the strange sight of 60-75 Purple Martins, mostly sitting on the gravel road, with a few watching from nearby fences. I was able to drive within 10 yards of some of them and they seemed reluctant to move, so I was able to get a few pictures..." Stokley Ponds A Solitary Sandpiper (well, with Mallards and Canada Geese of course). Thomas Wetlands The Perchalski's reported, "12 dunlin, a Pectoral Sandpiper, Coots, Mallards, BlueWinged Teal, Canada Geese." 5/5/4 Dunakins on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "At the Paulding Reservoir, we found the lone occupant of the water to be none other than a rather sleepy REDNECKED GREBE! This was our second May sighting of this species and our first County record in several years. A stop at one of the old Stokely ponds on the west edge of Paulding yielded a Black Tern, which is always a good find in our portion of the Swamp. All of this after 8 p.m. Who says ya hafta get up at dawn to see 'em?" 5/6/4 From Ohio-Birds: "Today was warbler day, at least for wife Micki, who tallied 18 species in a 2 hour period at the Forrest Woods preserve, including: Blue-winged, Nashville, Northern Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Palm, Bay-breasted, Black-and-white, Am. Redstart, Worm-eating, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded (female). I had a much lesser time at Paulding, with a mere 6 species, but including a couple of Northern Waterthrushes, which pushed our daily species total to 19! See, by using the word "our," I get some of the credit for the big total. We sure did good, didn't we? Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin Antwerp, O." 5/7/4 Dunakins on Ohio-Birds: "Good warblering today at the Black Swamp Nature Center ...In about 3 hours, we managed a total of 21 species of warblers, including another Worm-eating (possibly the same one we saw last Saturday?)...The Paulding Reservoir came somewhat alive with the storms, also. An early look showed no birds, but after a few showers and some nasty lightning, there were suddenly 3 Double-crested Cormorants and a small flock of gulls." 5/9/4 Black Swamp Nature Center this afternoon, with very little movement at all, but did get first-of-season Willow Flycatcher. 5/17/4 Black Swamp Nature Center Black Swamp Audubon Society met here tonight with a "warbler walk" led by special speaker Jim Haw. Problem: No warblers, except for Yellow! We were desperate enough to notice the few birds there: Gnatcatcher, Wood Ducks, BlueWinged Teal, Green Herons, Kingbird, Baltimore Orioles, Goldfinches, Warbling Vireo, Song Sparrow, even Canada Geese! Oh well, it was fun anyway due to the company we kept. 5/23/4 Thomas Marsh had a Great Egret, BLueWinged Teal, Mallards, and my first DICKCISSELS of the year 6/20/4 From OhioBirds@Envirolink: "A routine visit to the Thomas Wetlands two miles east of Antwerp brought a big surprise today. The warbling song of a MARSH WREN came to us out of the cattails surrounding the large pond along County Road 176 and Township Road 61. This is our first June record for a Marsh Wren in Paulding County, leaving open the possibility of nesting at this site. Regardless, it was one of just a handful of records for this bird in our county. To those of you beset with many of these little denizens of the marsh, we offer no apologies; it is a neat and unexpected bird for our area, especially during Summer months! Live long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin, Antwerp, O" 8/3/4 From Ohio-Birds@Envirolink: "Greeting, shorebirders everywhere!Sending a report this summer on the shorebirds of Paulding County is a little like including one's bathtub rubber ducky in a report on waterfowl. Once again, we have been blessed (or cursed) with a supernormal rainfall total this spring and summer, which has resulted in the destruction of what promised to be great habitat for our mudflat-loving migrants. After weeks of looking at water, water everywhere, we did locate a decent mini-habitat- a crescent-shaped low area in a local field measuring about 10' x 30'. This, if you follow the analogy, is our "bathtub" but has also proved to be our salvation. We have recorded 5 species of shorebirds in the last week, including Pectoral, Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary, Least and Semipalmated, not to mention any number of flashy Killdeer. Five doesn't seem like much when you have habitat, but it is a great number when the mud and shallow water are nowhere to be found. Two mud-envious birders, Doug & Micki Dunakin Antwerp, O." 8/21/4 Reservoir A GREAT EGRET is the only bird here. Black Swamp Nature Center Cedar Waxwings and Singles: Wood Duck, Great Blue Heron and BlueWinged Teal St Paul's Cem Pond (aka Cozier's) Singles: Great Blue Heron, Canada Goose, but at least 200 Mallards fly overhead. Stokely Ponds 25+ Canada Geese, lotsa Barn Swallows with a few Tree and Cliff, and a Kingbird. Sewage Lagoons the usually busy north pond has only a RedTailed Hawk, Swallows and Song Sparrows, but the south pond has lotsa Wood Ducks and a few Mallards. 8/31/4 From Ohio-Birds@Envirolink, the Dunakins wrote: "Greetings from the NW, Finally some evidence that there is a migration, even out here in the flatlands. Micki spent a few hours in a local woods, and she and I traipsed over our Audubon sanctuary today and wound up with the following Blackburnian, Nashville, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Green, Magnolia, Bay-breasted, and Black-and-White Warblers, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-throated, Warbling, and Red-eyed Vireo, and the biggie for the day: OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER. 9/4/4 A non-birding friend with me as I chanced through, so I couldn't stop at this great warbling spot. There was a Double-Crested Cormorant at the Reservoir, many Canada Geese at St Paul's Cemetery pond, 4 Mallards each at Stokely Ponds and Sewage Lagoons. Nature Center only a Great Blue Heron. 9/25/4 Thomas Marsh Dunakins on OhioBirds@Envirolink: " Greeting from the Great Dry Swamp,Amazingly enough, a few rainless weeks have produced some genuine shorebird habitat here in the sticks of Northwest Ohio. The once-full ponds of the Thomas Wetlands area near Antwerp have dried considerably, leaving that most desirable of conditions- shallow water and muddy edges. Indeed, a visit to Thomas today revealed a small army of 12 Wilson's Snipe, 3 Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 Greater Yellowlegs and a supporting cast of Killdeer, all busy pecking and poking their way around this new habitat. Add to that 8 (yes, 8) Pied-billed Grebes and a Great Egret to preside over the whole affair, and you have something worth looking at! Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin Antwerp, O."10/13/4 Antwerp Dunakins on OhioBirds@Envirolink: " We were pleasantly surprised by a nifty flock of 12 PINE SISKINS in our yard and at our feeders this morning. Not only is this our first sighting of the year; it is also the largest number we have ever seen on our property. This comes on the heels of a large invasion of migratory sparrows, headed up by White-throated and White-crowned, which correlates with other sightings in the state of the past few days. Micki also saw the first two Hermit Thrushes of the season yesterday. And so it goes...10/14/4 Antwerp The influx of PINE SISKINS into our yard continued yesterday, with a huge flock (by our standards) of 50 (yes, 5-0) seen by Micki in the morning! It was also a great day for sparrows, with 8 species tallied, including LINCOLN'S, White-crowned, White-throated, Junco, Field, Swamp, Song, Chipping. Additional migrants of note were Hermit Thrush and and alway-welcome Winter Wren. At the Thomas Wetlands, where shorebird habitat is the best it has been since early May, White-rumped Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Lesser 'n Greater Yellowlegs brought a smile or two. (Sure beats looking at Killdeer all the time.)11/5/4 Antwerp Dunakins on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: "Greetings from the flatlands, Fall migration continues in the Great Black Swamp. Since Wednesday, a few TREE SPARROWS have made their first autumn appearances in Paulding County. Additional visitors this week include Red-breasted Nuthatch, PURPLE FINCH, and RUSTY BLACKBIRD. The real bird of note, however, was an extremely late BLUEHEADED VIREO, seen and heard this morning at the edge of our woods. This is our latest sighting of this species by several weeks! You just never know what'll turn up next, do you? That's probably what makes birding such fun."

12/14/4 Paulding County Today was the Black Swamp Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count and Jon D and I found two huge flocks of Lapland Longspurs (as scribe he "gets to" ascribe actual numerical digits) near SR500/CR61 and /CR83. Thomas Marsh contained a huge flock of Snow Buntings (at least 400!) in flight under a huge flock of Mallards (at least 1000!). Later we saw another huge flock of Mallards (500?) milling about over an open cornfield not even near water, looking ever so much from a distance like a huge flock of blackbirds. Nearby were two huge flocks of Starlings. Millie S. found PURPLE FINCHES at their feeder. Lach O's team found a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. Vic F. posted on his site and on ohiobirds@envirolink: " Tuesday, I was fortunate enough to participate on the Black Swamp Christmas Bird Count organized by Doug & Micki Dunakin. This both gave me an opportunity to meet a number of the birders in the area as well as more fully appreciate what the area has to offer, and yes it has much to offer. I was assigned a very birdy area along the north bank of the Maumee River (Paulding Co.) and the adjacent farm fields north to Mark Center and east to Sherwood in Defiance County; perhaps as much as 1/5th of the total circle. I was accompanied by local Defiance Co. birders Bob & Jo Ann Zabonick. The day dawned with light flurries, a little more than a dusting of snow cover, and a modest NW breeze which picked up some during the day. I am guessing wind chills may have approached single digits and walking was thankfully NOT a large part of my portion of the survey. We covered 59 miles in 6.5 hrs of effort with the bulk of the morning spent along the river. In short, I was pleasantly surprised (though perhaps I should not have been so surprised) to find both very good numbers and great diversity here on the frontier with Indiana. No super rarities as is appropriate of a census for the purpose of monitoring population trends of the more common birds, although the sight of 2 Killdeer flying NORTH at some altitude was unexpected. But what catches my eye in the data sample provided below are three things; the raptor concentration and diversity, the density of cavity nesters (keep in mind we're a long way from the Wayne Nat'l. Forest), and Brown Creepers... I have been following the fortunes of Brown Creepers for some years, and what I know of them in Ohio did not prepare me for the frequency with which I detected here along the Maumee River on this day. Canada Goose - 13, Mallard - 16, Northern Harrier - 14, Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1, Cooper's Hawk - 1, Red-tailed Hawk - 20, Rough-legged Hawk - 1, American Kestrel - 12, Killdeer - 2, Rock Pigeon - 80, Mourning Dove - 59, Red-headed Woodpecker - 4, Red-bellied Woodpecker - 11, Downy Woodpecker - 22, Hairy Woodpecker - 5, Northern Flicker - 11, Blue Jay - 39, American Crow - 23, Horned Lark - 13, Black-capped Chickadee - 9, Tufted Titmouse - 24, White-breasted Nuthatch - 20, Brown Creeper - 19, Carolina Wren - 8, Eastern Bluebird - 4, American Robin - 1, European Starling - 60, American Tree Sparrow - 78, Song Sparrow - 14, White-throated Sparrow - 1, White-crowned Sparrow - 7, Dark-eyed Junco - 112, Northern Cardinal - 66, House Finch - 24, American Goldfinch - 100, House Sparrow - 624 cheers, Vic Fazio Shaker Hts., OH 12/28/ CR176/SR127 A DARK-PHASE ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK beside the highway! 20031/5/3 Followed the river to Oakwood, and then over to Paulding where I was surprised to find the Reservoir ice-free. In spite of the many many kids sledding down the Reservoir's steep sides, there were still a few Mallards, a Black Duck, a pair of Bufflehead, two Crows, and a Gull. At the Black Swamp Nature Center I followed a pair of footprints, presumably Doug & Micki's, but didn't find much. I did my poor imitation of a screech owl's whinny, though, and found myself surrounded by THREE BROWN CREEPERS, three Chickadees, a Nuthatch, two Downies, and a Hairy Woodpecker! I was flattered. Also found a Flicker there.1/15/3 Paulding County was frozen (even the Reservoir!) except for the little dam at the Black Swamp Nature Center. Right time, but no shorteared owls at the Wonderly/Jericho field. 2/20/3 News from Paulding County: " Apparently, Micki and I have been living in Nowhere, at least as far as good birding is concerned! After a long, long draught, we finally caught a break when I spied a small flotilla of four Common Mergansers enjoying a short stretch of open water on the Maumee River not far from home. Other than Canadas, these are the first waterfowl we have seen this entire month. Apparently having most all of your water frozen doesn't do much to attract 'em. It can only get better (we hope)." --Doug & Micki Dunakin; Antwerp, Ohio 3/19/3 Reservoir, Stokely Ponds still frozen. Stick Pond and Cattail Pond at the Black Swamp Nature Center were thawed just enough on the edges to hold 25 Canada Geese, and a sullen Great Blue Heron. A lone American Tree Sparrow still holds on there. Trees were laden with noisy blackbirds, mostly Grackles and RedWings. 3/20/3 Dunakins report on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "We in Paulding County have watched with bitter envy the progression of the watefowl migration as reported by those lucky enough to have open water. Up until yesterday, we had only seen waterfowl on the Maumee River and some of its backwater. Fortunately, the recent turn in temperatures has provided our humble area with a reasonable measure of that liquid delight, and lo and behold, the birds have arrived! Visits to various ponds and the famous Thomas wetlands outside Antwerp have revealed that just a small amount of open water has attracted hundreds of birds. We found more than 400 ducks atThomas yesterday, including most of the common puddle ducks. This in spiteof the fact that the majority of the main ponds are still frozen; the ducks were content to enjoy several inches of collected runoff adjacent to the ponds. A small, recently built pond on County Road 87 northwest of Paulding with perhaps 10% open water gave us several species. A tiny pond in a front yard near the Paulding Sewage Lagoons hosted a pair of Bufflehead! Our list for yesterday and today includes: Mallard, Black Duck, Am. Wigeon, Gadwall, Green-wing Teal, Pintail (several dozen yesterday), L. Scaup, Ring-neck, Redhead, Canvasback, Bufflehead, Wood Duck. Today brought an extra surprise with our first sighting of Tundra Swans at the Thomas Wetlands. Oh, it is such a joy to finally see some of the things you read about in this list service! --Doug & Micki Dunakin, Antwerp" 3/22/3 Thawed! Paulding Reservoir 6 Bonaparte's Gulls (further along in plumage than the other day's Fulton County bonies) with 99 ducks (a few Bufflehead, Scaup, Redhead and Shoveler, mostly RingNecked Ducks). St Paul's Cemetery Pond 2 Great Blue Heron and 25 Canada Geese. Nature Center 4 Canada Geese. Lagoons 24 Canada Geese, 24 RingNecked Ducks, 4 Lesser Scaup. Stokely Ponds 16 Canada Geese, 8 Mallards, 2 Lesser Scaup, 2 Redheads, 5 Bufflehead. From the OhioBirds@Envirolink listserve from Antwerp's Dunakins: " Yes, there is evidence that Spring may be winning the battle against Winter. Yesterday I saw our first Tree Swallow flying over the Paulding Reservoir, which was about 60% open. Today, Micki spotted our first Lesser Yellowlegs at the Thomas Wetlands. "Oh frabjous day, Callooh! Callay! he chortled in his joy!" (This listservice could stand a bit more humor, hence the Lewis Carroll effusion.)" 3/23/3 Walking with Pam A on her Defiance/PauldingCoLn estate, saw my first SWAMP SPARROW of the year. FOX SPARROW and American Tree Sparrow and Junco were there too, as well as still at my Sherwood feeders. 3/30/3Thomas Marsh near Antwerp Fair amount of ducks but lots of convection for the scope. Mostly BlueWinged Teal, followed by Mallard, GreenWinged Teal, Northern Shovelers, American Wigeon, Canada Geese, Pintail. Best birds: a veritable horde of Lapland Longspurs looking just great in near-breeding plumage. 4/6/3 Sewage Lagoons Canada Goose 30+, Blue-wing Teal 8, Ring-billed Gull 12, Bonaparte's Gull, 13 (several with hoods) Thomas' Wetlands Pied-billed Grebe 1, Mallard 12, Nor. Pintail 4, Nor. Shoveler 2, Ring-necked Duck 3, Ruddy Duck 5, Lesser Scaup 4, Blue-winged Teal 30+, Green-winged Teal 8. 4/10/3 Doug & Micki Dunakin on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: "Migration proceeds apace even here in lowly northwest Ohio. The Paulding Reservoir was the stopoff for a small flock of Double-crested Cormorants today, the first we have seen this year. The Thomas Wetlands, which has lost most of its waterfowl in the past week, was host to an flock of 100+ Pectoral Sandpipers. Not a great find, but any migrant in good numbers is always welcome around these parts. Chez nous, Micki also spotted our first White-crowned Sparrow of the season; this is a very early sighting for us, as they usually arrived later in the month." 4/14/3 Dunakins report on OhioBIrds@Envirolink: "Yesterday, Micki heard our first Black-throated Green of the season, and today she saw our first Yellow-rumped Warbler." 4/20/3 From OhioBirds@Envirolink: "Things were moving through Paulding County today: We got our first Blue-winged and Palms today as well as a few Yellow-rumps. That makes today a "3 warbler day!" Of course, that might not raise any eyebrows elsewhere, but it's a lot better than a "0 warbler day," which is pretty much what we've had up till now. The Blue-winged, by the way, was our earliest Paulding County sighting. We also managed our first Green Heron and our first B-G Gnatcatcher. All in all, a nice day with loads more to come. Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin, Antwerp, Ohio" 4/23/3 Paulding County Reservoir empty, but only a precious few minutes at Black Swamp Nature Center finds my first-of-the year Ovenbird, 3 Solitary Sandpipers, RubyCrowned Kinglets, and Palm Warblers as well as spring-plumaged YellowRumped Warblers, WhiteThroated Sparrows, a WINTER WREN, BlueWinged Teal, a Greater Yellowlegs, a Coot, and Canada Geese. 4/25/3 Paulding Reservoir to find nothing but Canada Geese. Stokely Ponds had a female Hooded Merganser swimming curiously with a female Scaup. There were also Canada Geese, Barn & Tree Swallows and Purple Martins. I kept following County Road 107 south, and at the Van Wert County Line, just outside of the tiny village of Scott were hundreds of my first-of-season GOLDEN PLOVERS in every plumage, in a newly-plowed field there! 4/28/3 Dunakins on OhioBIrds@Envirolink: "Micki had some luck at the Black Swamp Sanctuary north of Antwerp with a total of six species of warblers,including Nashville, Blue-winged, Yellow, Palm, Yellow-rumped, and Black-throated Green. New species for the year included Blue-headed Vireo, Scarlet Tanager, and Baltimore Oriole. This is some improvement over Saturday and Sunday, when we saw virtually nothing new in our area. I had less luck with shorebirds at the Thomas Wetlands outside Antwerp, with a small flock of Least Sandpipers (new for the season), a small flock of Less Yellowlegs and a few Pectorals. Micki managed to kick up a couple of Wilson's Snipe as well." 4/29/3 Dunakins called and left a message about 5:30pm to exclaim there were two AMERICAN AVOCETS on the Paulding Reservoir! I got home too late to check on it myself, darn it!!! Their note on OhioBirds@Envirolink: " At the end of a rather lackluster birding day, Micki and I chanced to stop at the Paulding Reservoir in hopes of spying something unusual. Did we ever!! Along with a small pod of Double-crested Cormorants, a rogue Forster's Tern and a few nondescript Ring-billed Gulls, Micki spotted a pair of Am. Avocets circling around the reservoir. Naturally, we thought they would move on and look for a shallow place to stop and eat, but to our surprise, they came to rest out in the deep water and started swimming away. Now, this might be a common occurrence on the Lake where everybody sees Avocets, but it's the first time we had witnessed Avocets swimming! This also marks our first sighting of this species in Spring. Just when you think you've seen about everything..." 4/30/3 Dunakins on OhioBirds@Envirolink: " Another good day here in the boonies. Micki did a solo walk in the morning at the Marie DeLarme woods, getting several new birds for our Spring list, including Gray Catbird, Wood Thrush, B&W Warbler, C. Yellowthroat, and Grasshopper Sparrow. Joining her in the afternoon, we got Least Flycatcher, Great Egret and Red-eyed Vireo at the Black Swamp Nature Center in Paulding and found the nesting Bank Swallows at the Quarry north of Paulding. Our big surprise, however, came as we were checking out a lone duck on the far side of the Paulding Reservoir. An immature Bald Eagle flew out over the reservoir, swooped down and grabbed a fish and just as quickly swept on over the dike and out of sight. Just like on TV, but without the slow motion or the beer. We drove around to the south side of the reservoir and found the bird sitting in a wheat field, gobbling his catch very warily, looking up after each bite. For those of you at The Lake, no big deal, but a Bald Eagle is still a cause for celebration in these parts!" 5/1/3 Dunakins on OhioBirds@Envirolink: " A very nice day following a stormy night brought good things to Paulding County. Micki birded in our woods, while I ventured to the Black Swamp Nature Center in Paulding. Together, we saw 12 species of warblers, among which were a Cerulean and a Kentucky, both excellent birds for our area. Among other new species for the year were Eastern Kingbird, Great Crested Flycatcheer, Northern Mockingbird, Tennessee Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Orchard Oriole, Chimney Swift. We also managed to spot some Pipits on our way into town this evening. It was, in short, a great day, the kind that makes you forget all of those "bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang. 5/3/3 I should've been one county south, perhaps, as the Dunakins report on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: " Today was not a pretty day, but it was a pretty amazing day at the Black Swamp Nature Center in Paulding, O. Micki and I birded a scant two hours in this little area at the southwest corner of the village of Paulding and came away with 14 species of warblers, including two very nice birds for our area. The warblers found were Blue-winged, Tennessee, Nashville, Northern Parula (new for year), Yellow, Chestnut-sided (new for year), Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Palm, Am. Redstart (new for year), N. Waterthrush, C. Yellowthroat, HOODED (new for year), YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT (new for year). We also heard a White-eyed Vireo singing, but couldn't locate him. All in all, this was our best warbler count at this site, which we have been monitoring for more than eighteen years! The neat thing about this area is, you could come back in a day or two and not see more than three or four species of warblers. Ya just never know, and therein lies the fun, no?" 5/4/3 Black Swamp Audubon Sanctuary in Antwerp Lots of wildflowers, but only one Nashville Warbler! Lots of Solitary*(?) Sandpipers, many in groups of 5 and more! Thomas Marsh 5 BlueWinged Teal, 2 Canada Geese, 10 Mallards, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, 50 Least Sandpipers, 25 Pectoral Sandpipers, 3 Dunlin.5/6/3 "Micki managed a nice 12 species of warblers in the Marie DeLarme woods this morning, including what seems to be this year's darling, a Golden-winged! She and I walked around the Black Swamp Nature Center at Paulding and added two more warblers for a respectable daily total of 14. Among these were: Golden-winged (new for year) Tennessee Nashville N. Parula Yellow Magnolia (new for year) Black-throated Blue Yellow-rumped Black-throated Green Blackburnian (new for year) Am. Redstart Ovenbird (new for year) N. Waterthrush C. Yellowthroat Vireos seen or heard included Warbling White-eyed Yellow-throated (new for year) Although the songbirds have been slow to come through here in Paulding County, the last week has been for the most part excellent. Let's hope we have a little more to come, as we are still missing some of the more common species. Even the Ovenbirds and Magnolias that showed up today are much later than usual. Wazzup? Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin Antwerp, O." 5/8/3 Dunakins on Ohiobirds@Envriolink: "Another great birding day in the Swamp! The Paulding Reservoir yielded our first Black Tern of the year, but the real excitement continues to be the warbler movement in the wet woods next to the Reservoir, otherwise known as Black Swamp Nature Center. Along with some other nice songbirds including two Orchard Orioles, several Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and a Blue-headed Vireo, we also managed 14 warbler species in about an hour and a half (plus a Black-throated Green at home for a total of 15 for the day), among which were Golden-winged (a most co-operative male), Nashville 8, Yellow 5, Chestnut-sided 2, Magnolia 2, Black-throated Blue 3, Yellow-rumped 20, Palm 2, Black-and-white 2, Ovenbird, N. Waterthrush, C. Yellowthroat 6, Wilson's (new for year), Yellow-breasted Chat. As John Perchalski was noting about his Van Wert woods, the birding in this area has been our best locally in several years. After such a long dry spell, we ain't complainin'.5/10/3 " Doug Dunakin reports on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: "Four of us intrepid northwestern Buckeyes tramped the wet woods of Paulding County in our version of the now-defunct North American Migration Count. Despite a healthy dose of afternoon showers, we managed a respectable 106 species, including 19 species of warblers. Highlights for the day were: Red-shouldered Hawk, Veery, Swainson's Thrush, Willow Flycatcher, E. Wood Peewee, Double-crested Cormorant, Worm-eating Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Lincoln's Sparrow." Those in bold were new for the season for me. I would have to also include the plentiful Redstarts, Bank Swallows, plenty of BlackThroated Blues, Wood Thrushes (high! singing in a tree!), the brilliant show-off male Scarlet Tanager, the fact that all of the many RoseBreasted Grosbeaks were female, and the mink that played 3 feet away as highlights! 5/18/3 From Ohiobirds@Envirolink: "Even though most of our warblers seem to have headed up to Lake Erie (We dropped from an average of 15 warblers earlier this week to 5 today), we have had some welcome visitors, including Paulding Reservoir: Common Loon (rather a late bird in these parts), Double-crested Cormorant Our property near Antwerp: Black-billed Cuckoo. Black Swamp Nature Center at Paulding: Canada Warbler (2) (4 total for the week). Not a bad day, with the Cuckoo and the Loon provided some consolation for the loss of all those warblers! Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin, Antwerp, O"5/22/3 Black Swamp Nature Center Dunakins report an OliveSided Flycatcher on Ohiobirds@Envirolink. 5/23-26/3 Way too busy with home and family, so not much birding done. My first Grasshopper Sparrow of the year (his pictures from the videocamera below) did chastise us severely while putting flowers on the graves at Paulding County's Forder Cemetery, saw my first Orchard Oriole of the season at a family Independence Dam picnic, and a male Blackpoll Warbler has called constantly in my Sherwood yard Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday AND Tuesday, driving me crazy. This is one bird I can definitely wait until next year to hear again! <grin>

Doug & Micki Dunakin on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "Things have been very, very slow in these parts lately, so when Micki happened upon a flock of about 50 shorebirds at the Thomas Wetlands, it was something of an occasion for us. Among the new birds (for us) for the year were Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin, Semipalmated Sandpiper. Since she had no scope, she was unable to ID some of the peeps, so we went back there four hours later and found zilch. I repeat, ZILCH (I'm sure the Killdeer would be offended at being called zilch, but that's the way we saw it.) The better species among that flock have no doubt settled in up in Williams County for the night. Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin, Antwerp, O 5/30/3 The Dunakins on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: "The Thomas Wetlands just east of the lovely Village of Antwerp continue to play host to a variety of water-loving birds, including 3 Great Egrets and a small, but persistent band of shorebirds, mostly Dunlin and Semipalmated Sandpipers. The real bird of interest today was our first Dickcissel of the season, a dapper individual who resisted his biological imperative to sing, sing, sing and instead let out a couple of exasperated chirps (aimed no doubt at me) before disappearing into a wheat field. He apparently felt I was cramping his style." 6/2/3 Dunakins on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: " A Happening from the Thomas Wetlands near Antwerp: The Great Egrets seem to have mastered the law of multiplication in the last five days: the number of G.E.'s has increased each day by one from two on Thursday to a whopping six birds today! This may seem like a small number to those of you used to seeing them every day, but around here, we're lucky to see two or three during migration. And they have been congratating in the small pond along County Road 176. Must be something irresistible to Egrets in that pool...On the normal side, we have been seeing an assortment of shorebirds at Thomas: Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, Dunlin, Spotted Sandpiper and a couple of White-rumped SPs on Sunday." 6/7/3 Thomas Wetlands Here is evidently where all the birds are now. On OhioBirds@Envirolink: " The Thomas Wetlands near Antwerp did not disappoint today, with several shorebird species and some larger birds, among which were: 14 Black Terns (the most we have ever seen in the county), 5 Great Egrets, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 2 Dunlin, 50+ Semipalmated S.P., 8 White-rumped S.P., 1 Spotted S.P. All in all, not a bad 20 minutes spent at Thomas. Judging by the fondness of the Egrets for this area, who knows what will tern up (really bad pun) next. Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin Antwerp, Ohio" 6/8/3 Antwerp Dunakins on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: " Micki got a call from one of our friends who owns ground just outside of Antwerp, adjacent to our Black Swamp Audubon sanctuary. She had been hearing this bird calling all night long, and she just couldn't tell what it was. Micki went over there, and lo and behold! it was a Yellow-breasted Chat! This isn't the first time we've had a late Chat, but it is the first we've heard of them singing (we'll have to make allowances for this species; the females probably think of their odd noises as beautiful music) at night. Lest you experts feel called upon to dissertate, we looked it up and found the behavior to be not all that exceptional, especially for a lonely male. Just an interesting footnote from the tail end of songbird migration. Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin, Antwerp, O" After listening to Jeff McCoy's visual presentation of his 2002 Big Year at the Stockbridge Audubon Society in Fort Wayne, I stopped by the Thomas Wetlands to see the previously reported Great Egrets and Dickcissels (first of the year for me) there. 6/12/3 Dan Sanders from Columbus recently visited: "On my return trip South, I stopped at the Thomas wetlands and found 3 Ruddy Ducks in the area; a male and female at the pond located about 1 mile S of the intersection and near a stream. There was also a single young duck (half grown?) near the ruddies that didn't look like a young mallard (there were several pairs of mallards here also). This may represent breeding success for the Ruddies and I thought you might like to also take a look here. The other Ruddy was a male in breeding plumage that I found on the Commissioner's pond to the South. I also thought that you (and others) might want the information for your records, especially since there haven't been many Ruddy Duck reports for the Summer. " Paulding Reservoir Dunakins on Ohio-Birds@Envirolink: " A late evening trip to the Paulding Reservoir yielded two surprising birds: a Red-breasted Merganser and a Bonaparte's Gull, both of which were quite unexpected in these parts at this date! Ya just never know, do ya?" 6/21/3 CR115/CR224 Seen while enroute elsewhere-- Dickcissels on all corners. 6/22/3 CR115/StateRoute 111 Dickcissels 119/225 Bobolinks on both sides of the road.6/30/3 Enroute to my aunt's birthday party St Paul's Cemetery Pond I was shocked to see a Bald Eagle take wing as I pulled up! The only other bird visible there was a Great Blue Heron. On the way back, the Thomas Marsh at 9:30pm (dusk) was vibrant and alive with the singing of many Dickcissels and Larks. Remarkably, the two large broods of Mallard ducklings here were very small, not hatched long ago. The "ducklings" at 16/C are bigger than the parents! The high weeds made viewing difficult so I couldn't make out much more than that. 7/25/3Thomas Marsh Water is very high, with Wood Ducks, Mallards, and plenty of Dickcissels there, but no shorebirds. 8/9/3Paulding Reservoir Nothing. Black Swamp Nature Center 1 Woodduck Stokely Ponds 50 Canada Geese and 1 white duck/goose that went into the weeds before I could scope to see if it was a domestic or a snow. Commissioner's Ponds Barn Swallows and Chimney Swifts. St Paul's Cemetery Ponds A Mallard. 8/21/3 BlackSwampNatureCenter, Reservoir, Stokely Ponds are empty, whileSt Paul's Cemetery Pond has only a Great Egret, and lots of Mallards. 8/23/3 Doug Dunakin on Ohio-Birds: "Micki spotted a Great-crested Flycatcher at the Black Swamp sanctuary, our earliest August record for a GCFC. She also saw three Tennessee Warblers, our first fall warblers. I managed to get a glimpse or two of some Bobolinks in their fall plumage at the water-sogged Thomas Wetlands outside Antwerp. It has been a slow summer in these parts!!" Pam and I also heard Great-Crested Flycatchers today near her farm, but evidently aren't good enough birders to realize it was significant. I thought we heard them all summer...8/25/3Thomas Marsh Haven't been here in awhile-- the weeds are so high! 8/28/3 Doug & Micki Dunakin, on OhioBirds@EnviroLink: "The wetlands at the Black Swamp Audubon Society's nature preserve near Antwerp has yielded what is for us a new species for Paulding County: Micki heard and spotted one or more VIRGINIA RAILS this afternoon. We have had Soras around every year, but this was our first Virginia. Once again, the implementation of a new wetland area has produce an interesting bird! While our wetland area was built several years ago, it wasn't until the discovery and blocking of several drainage tile that the wetlands began to hold water! Who knows what might appear next?" 8/30/3 "Micki fared well with warblers at our Black Swamp Audubon sanctuary this morning. Her eight species include: Blue-winged, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Black-and-White, Am. Redstart, Ovenbird, N. Waterthrush. Her total for the week is 12 species of warblers, not bad for the last week in August in these parts." --Doug & Micki Dunakin, on OhioBirds@EnviroLink 9/1/3 Regina Sheiltz from DarkeCo on Ohio-Birds@Envirolink: "Paulding sewage ponds - 1 Spotted Sandpiper, YellowRumped Warblers, lots of Chimney Swifts and Purple Martins Black Swamp Nature Center - Catbird, RubyThroated Hummingbird, BlackCapped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, Robin, Redbellied Woodpecker, Turkey Vulture, but no Virginia rail and no warblers." 9/1/3 Regina Sheiltz from DarkeCo on Ohio-Birds@Envirolink: "Paulding sewage ponds - 1 Spotted Sandpiper, YellowRumped Warblers, lots of Chimney Swifts and Purple Martins Black Swamp Nature Center - Catbird, RubyThroated Hummingbird, BlackCapped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, Robin, Redbellied Woodpecker, Turkey Vulture, but no Virginia rail and no warblers." 9/19/3 Dunakins on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "The Thomas Wetlands gave us a few moments of hope today as we found several interesting species, including three Pied-billed Grebes, a Wilson's Snipe and an Eared Grebe, a first for Thomas." 10/3/3 Antwerp Dunakins on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "Micki saw the first Winter Wrens on our property yesterday, as well as the first Lincoln's Sparrow this morning. We have been blessed by a plethora of sightings of Pied-billed Grebes this month, with 5 at the Thomas Wetlands this noon along with our first Hooded Merganser of the season." 10/5/3 Reservoir empty Sewage Lagoons held an even dozen BlueWinged Teal as well as two female RUDDY DUCKS, with close-up great viewing. Gun Club a PiedBilled Grebe. 10/11/3 Thomas Marsh Driving by about 7pm found the weeds too high to see much but a few Mallards, but the loud cacophany and groups of them dropping out of the sky betrayed that there were many hidden. A huge group of 3000+ blackbirds turned out to be 90% Cowbirds, with a few Starlings and RedWinged Blackbirds. Very close to the road, I could make out no yellow-eyed birds. 11/1/2003 Dunakins on Ohio-Birds@Envirolink: "Micki and I found 10 species of ducks this morning, including a surprising SURF SCOTER at one of the old Stokely ponds on the west side of Paulding. Also seen at other ponds and at the Paulding Reservoir were Mallard, Pintail, Gadwall, Green-wing Teal, Shoveler, Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, Ring Neck, and Ruddy." 11/2/2003 In pursuit of yesterday's scoter, found Black Swamp Nature Center, Sewage Lagoons, Independence Dam, Power Dam empty, while a single Great Egret remained at St Paul's Cemetery Pond. At the hardest-to-see of the four Stokely Ponds were 9 Mallards, 2 Coots, and a PiedBilled Grebe (the others were empty). The Reservoir: 2 Peking (Beijing?) Ducks swimming with a Mallard, 2 Redheads, 1 Gadwall, 2 Common Loons, 6 Ruddy Ducks, and a Pied Billed Grebe. Uneventful, but a very pleasant,warm day! Oh yes, and another Harrier at Buckskin/Glenburg. Dunakins on the same day (!!!) found (from OhioBirds@Envirolink): "Our newest resident, the SURF SCOTER, was still present at one of the Stokely ponds on the west side of Paulding. Enjoying the Paulding Reservoir were a Common Loon and a Horned Grebe, while a Redhead Duck made his appearance in the midst of some Ring Necks in the same pond as the SUSC. Meanwhile, hundreds and hundreds of agitated Mallards and other fowl flew up, down and around the Thomas Wetlands, obviously stirred up by who knows whom (not us, surely!). Lacking both salt and the possibility of applying any to tails, we had to content ourselves with brief looks at a Pied-billed Grebe, a Pintail or two, some Green Wing Teal, a Gadwall and a few Shovelers. Who knows what else lurked in those ponds and cattails??"11/5/2003 Happy to say that the female or juvenile SURF SCOTER was still present at one of the Stokely ponds on the west side of Paulding, swimming with a drake Bufflehead and a Ruddy Duck. The weediest Stokely Pond held 4 Coots, 2 PiedBilled Grebes, 16 Mallards, while the other two Stokely Ponds were empty. A lone PiedBilled Grebe was at the Black Swamp Nature Center. 11/15/2003 From OhioBirds@Envirolink: " Today we saw our first little flock of Snow Buntings flitting about on the flatlands of Paulding County. We have been seeing small numbers of Lapland Longspurs as well, mixed in with our ever-present Horned Larks. Ah yes, life on the plains! Our lone waterfowl claim-to-fame, the SURF SCOTER that has been hanging around the west side of Paulding for two weeks now, was joined by a second SURF SCOTER! They were enjoying the friendly confines of the westernmost pond on County Road 148, along with a few Bufflehead and a Goldeneye. Such a nice little flock! Bird long and prosper, Doug & Micki Dunakin Antwerp, O." 11/17/2003 Dunakins on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "Our little pond at the west edge of Paulding on County Road 142 has produced yet another wonder- a WHITEWINGED SCOTER has joined the two SURF SCOTERS we saw Saturday! I believe this is the first time we have seen two species of scoters in the County at the same time! At the same time, the Paulding Reservoir, which traditionally has produced the scoters, is blessed with only a small flock of Ruddy Ducks. Go figure!" 11/21/2003 Linda emails me: "Sue and I took the afternoon off and headed to Paulding. We were successful in locating both the SURF SCOTER and the WHITEWINGED SCOTER. They were all on the west Stokely pond. Something flushed them and they took off. We found the Surf Scoters on the Reservoir and the whitewinged on the sewer pond." Later, Pat and Roger found the Whitewinged Scoter on the Stokely Pond, but not the Surf Scoters. They also were discovered by a flock of six Sandhill Cranes that flew overhead then landed in a field for their perfect viewing! 11/22/2003 Black Swamp Nature Center No great birds but did run into Roger and Pat. Stokely Ponds only a dozen or so Mallards on the weediest pond. Commissioner's Ponds 8 HOODED MERGANSERS, 2 Bonaparte's Gulls, 1 Ruddy Duck, and a WHITEWINGED SCOTER. Reservoir 1 RingBilled Gull, and a raft of 30, that contained mostly Ruddy Ducks, 4 Bufflehead, and two SURF SCOTERS here since the first day of November. 11/23/3 Reservoir High winds made the water so choppy there was nothing visible here. Black Swamp Nature Center Nothing of note. Stokely Ponds only 40 Canada Geese. Commissioner's Ponds A Ruddy Duck and the WhiteWinged Scoter. Couldn't get a darn digiscope pic tho with the high winds! Couldn't find the surf scoters. 11/29/3 After I dropped Bijou off with the vet I was told to return in half-an-hour. At the Reservoir I found 30 RingBilled Gulls and TWENTY SANDHILL CRANES! They appeared to be change their minds mid-air about landing in such a deep body of water, so I followed them south in the car to see if they would land in a field. I was quickly distracted by flocks of several hundred birds, pretty evenly divided between Horned Larks, LAPLAND LONGSPURS and SNOW BUNTINGS, from the Reservoir south to the railroad tracks on County Road 107. The Stokely Ponds, the Sewage Lagoons and the Nature Center were empty, however, perhaps due to duckhunters judging by the many footprints in the snow (I think today was the last day until Dec 7).12/7/2003 Paulding Reservoir Dunakins on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "Canada Goose, Surf Scoter (We've had at least one of these birds for over a month now!),Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck. Add a rather chilly-looking Great Blue Heron, and you have the makings of a not-too-bad trip." 12/9/2003 Antwerp Dunakins on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "Micki just happened to glance at our upside-down feeder and thought she saw something with a dark crown. It turned out to be one of two Common Redpolls, the first we have seen in the county in nearly eight years. This is only our third record of these birds since we began keeping records in 1985. 2002 1/5/02 Still sick, stuck at home (feeders same) but lived vicariously from the OhioBird Listserve: "Just about forgot to post about the largest flock of winter visitors we have had in several years. We estimated about 1000 individuals, with around 750 Snow Buntings and 250 Horned Larks. We watched them cavort on the frozen fields for about a half hour. At one point, they were spread out over about 10 acres of ground. A neat discovery on a cold and blustery afternoon that seemed to keep other birds under cover!-- the Dunakins" 2/3/02 Dunakins report on Ohio-birds listserve, " Spring musta sprung around here- Red-wings in the back yard, Robin down the road, and a neat Common Goldeneye at the Paulding Reservoir. Maybe we should just ignore those marmots and their pesky shadows." 2/17/02 Our tour of Paulding was not great either, with 47 Canada Geese, 2 Horned Larks, a Kestrel, and a Mourning Dove at the Sewage Lagoons, while the Nature Center 12 Canada Geese, a WhiteBreasted Nuthatch, a RedBellied Woodpecker, and a Blue Jay, with only 6 American Tree Sparrows, 46 Canada Geese, 1 Horned Lark and a RedTailed Hawk at Stokely Ponds. A later walk at the Nature Center resulted in many more birds: a walk around the Stick Pond found pairs of Crows, Black-Capped Chickadees, Cardinals, and singles of Carolina Wren, Brown Creeper, Blue Jay, Tufted Titmouse, and BedBellied Woodpecker. a walk around the Cattail Pond saw 2 Downy Woodpeckers, 2 RedBelliedWoodpeckers, 2 Tufted Titmice, 2 Mourning Doves and 3 Juncos. A walk on the BlueJay and Goldfinch Trails resulted in 2 Cardinals and 2 WhiteBreasted Nuthatch. Not good, but better. Pam discovered 27 REDWINGED BLACKBIRDS and a COWBIRD at her PauldingCoLineRd feeders. 2/24/02 A tour of Paulding found 2 KILLDEER at the north pond near the Commissioner's Woods, as well as about 50 Canada Geese and 2 Bluebirds at the south one. A singing EASTERN MEADOWLARK and singing RedWinged Blackbirds with the 50 Canada Geese at Stokely Ponds. Reservoir was empty, but the Nature Center had, you guessed it, Canada Geese. 2/26/02 "Since redwings have been mentioned quite a bit recently, I thought I would mention my sighting of two Sundays ago. 27 redwings landed in our very large cottonwood about 5:30 p.m. The unusual thing about this sighting is that 25 to 30% of the flock were females. Usually here at the farm, the males are proclaiming their territory before I see many females." --Pam Adams from her Defiance/PauldingCoLnRd farm on Ohio-birds@envirolink listserve. 3/13/02 The Dunakins' report of Purple Finches and a Fox Sparrow at their Antwerp home yesterday on Ohiobirds@Envirolink made me hungry for birding Paulding County. Especially since everyday after work finds Oxbow Lake destitute of waterfowl, except for occassional Canada Geese-- lots of fishermen though! Commissioner's Pond South had a pair of Mallards, and a close-up pair of GREENWINGED TEAL that didn't seem to mind my scoping them at all. The North pond had only lots of Canada Geese. Stokely Ponds were full of ducks and Canada Geese-- I only took a quick scan to avoid frightening them into the air, but saw maybe 2 pair of Ruddy Ducks, 2 pair of Mallards, 6 pair of Redheads, and 20 pair of RingNecked Ducks, very close! The Reservoir had 4 male Bufflehead, while the Nature Center was void, probably due to the many people there. St Paul's Cemetery Pond had a pair of Ringnecked Ducks, a pair of Mallards and 2 pair of Canada Geese. 61/176 looked barren from the road, but as I was about to depart 50 Mallards flew up from the center of the marsh. Great to be out and see Robins, Grackles, Meadowlarks, Killdeer all so plentiful again.3/21/02 Off the Ohiobirds@Envirolink listserve: "I was greeted this a.m. by two Blue winged teal drakes on our pond. Not a rare sighting, true, but highly unusual in that our pond is banked on three sides and lies about thirty feet from the house. The dog's exercise pen runs within five feet of it and the dogs were both out at the time of the sighting. The only other water fowl I've ever seen there before has been an occasional Canada goose. Herons, both green backed and blue,( and one year a cattle egret) have stalked the banks. Once in awhile the pond gets an aerial attack from a King fisher or Osprey but we just don't get ducks. Anyway, it was a nice treat this blustery morning. later, p.adams Paulding county" 3/24/02 Buoyed by the great Cleveland sightings yesterday, decided to bird Paulding County. Best birds for me were 2 COMMON LOONS (my first of the year) on the Reservoir with about 300 Lesser Scaup (ok, i counted 314 <grin>), 8 Horned Grebes, 17 Hooded Mergansers, 6 RedBreasted Mergansers, 5 RingBilled Ducks, a single drake Shoveler, and a Coot. Next best site, with the next best birds, were hundreds of LAPLAND LONGSPURS looking great in their new plumage on Paulding County Road 61 near the interesection with CR176. These birds are easily viewed from the road where, once your car is turned off, they quickly move in close to the road, eating from this marshy field. This new marsh, fairly recently constructed, also held 2 male WIgeon, 3 pairs of BlueWinged Teal, 5 pairs of Mallards, a pair of Shovelers, and a pair of GreenWinged Teal. Of course, there were the ubiquitous Canada Geese, and also 3 easily-viewed SNIPE. St Paul's Cemetery pond (also fairly recently constructed) held 32 Canada Geese, 28 Mallards, a pair of Northern Shovelers, a pair of BlueWInged Teal, 3 pairs of Lesser Scaup, a pair of Black Ducks, and a Wood Duck drake. The pair-of-ponds-by-the-Commissioner's-Woods were interesting, since the North pond is almost dry and will be a perfect stopover for migrating sandpipers. Today it held 6 Shovelers (all male), a Mallard pair, and Killdeer. The South pond had 32 Shoveler (2 of them hens), 16 Lesser Scaup, 4 pair of BlueWinged Teal, a pair of RingNecked Ducks, about 50 Canada Geese, and a Great Blue Heron. The three Stokely Ponds held 2 RingNecked Drakes, and 4 Bufflehead (all male, as well) in one pond; 2 female Hooded Mergansers in the weedy pond; and 20 Ringnecked Ducks (2 hens), a pair of Gadwall, lots of Canada Geese, and a Coot in the last pond. Paulding Nature Center held only 20 Canada Geese and a Mallard drake. 3/28/02 Ponds-by-the-Commissioners'-Woods South had 20 Scaup and 6 Canada Geese. Stokely Ponds 4 Shovelers standing on the ice in the western-most pond; only a Coot hit by a car in front on the weedy pond; the pond-closest-to-town had 2 dozen Shovelers, 12 Canadas, 10 Scaup, 8 Bufflehead, 8 RingNecked Ducks, 8 Mallards. The Reservoir was full of people and ducks. 2 LOONS were still there, as well as at least 1000 ducks hugging the far shore, frightened evidently by the kids sledding down the sleep slopes. Probably half were Scaup, about a third Redheads, and another third RingNecked Ducks. A single Coot, and about 16 RedBreasted Mergansers swam about openly. Due to the snow, lots of people and time restraints, I didn't strain to sort through the birds very well. Doug and Micki and Lach had been there in the morning and reported on Ohiobirds@envirolink: "We finally managed a trip to the Paulding Reservoir this a.m., but apparently the great fallout had already occurred and moved on. Nonetheless, we managed a few birds: Common Loon 1, Am. Coot 8, Horned Grebe 7, Ring-necks 50, L. Scaup 270, Bufflehead 12, Hooded Merganser 1, Red-Breasted Merganser 5. On the way home, the Maumee River gave up the following: Pied-billed Grebe 2, Wood Duck 3. All in all, not an awe-inspiring count, but far larger numbers than earlier in the month. Doug & Micki Dunakin (+ Bryanite Lach Ohman)" St Paul's Cemetery Pond, Commissioner's Pond North and the New Marsh were void, silent, frozen over, and empty, with not even Longspurs. 3/29/2 Doug & Micki Dunakin report on Ohiobirds@Envirolink:"This was one of those days when the birds just turn up unexpectedly at every turn- Micki picked up our first Field Sparrow of the season and managed to flush five Am. Woodcocks during her morning walk. Our first Chipping Sparrow showed up in the back yard, along with an Eastern Phoebe on our clothesline. Add to this a brief appearance of two Northern Bobwhite in the yard (birds we had feared had been eaten by predators) and the first Common Snipe at the Thomas wetlands on County Road 176, and you have the makings of a fine early Spring day!!" Joe's picture of a Turkey Vulture near Paulding:

3/31/02 The New Marsh looked perfect for birds today, but was likewise empty. St Paul's Cemetery pond however, had 2 Canada Geese, 2 Black Ducks, 2 Coots, 4 Mallards, 20 Scaup, and 10 RingNecked Ducks. The Reservoir still held 2 COMMON LOONS, with 20 Scaup, 2 Mallards, a Horned Grebe, and a RedBreasted Merganser. Black Swamp Nature Center had a pair of Canada Geese. Commissioner's Pond South had 87 Lesser Scaup, 2 Mallards, 2 Shovelers, and about 50 Canada Geese. North was empty, probably 'cause it stunk so bad. Let's hope sandpipers can't smell. Stokely Pond nearest town held 10 Bufflehead (2 females in the group!), 24 Scaup, 4 Ringnecked Ducks, and 8 Canada Geese. The western-most pond held another 6 Bufflehead, all drakes. 4/2/02 Micki & Doug Dunakin report on Ohio-birds@envirolink, from Paulding County: "It was a great day for diversity, for new things showing up in old places. Micki found Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in our little woodlot along with our first Swamp Sparrow of the year and a nice flight of more than a dozen Forster's Terns, all without leaving the confines of our property. In my wanderings between here [Antwerp] and the quaint village of Paulding, I managed eight species of ducks, a Common Loon, five Pied-billed Grebes, one Horned Grebe, a few Am. Coots and a small flock of Bonaparte's Gulls at the Thomas Wetlands on Road 161. Also interesting was a gathering of 15 Shovellers at the Paulding Sewage Lagoons. Nothing rare, nothing spectacular, but a lot of movement." 4/4/2 The Reservoir birds were in the air and distant, with 3 truckloads of guys nearby, so I didn't bother trying to count them. Ponds-by-the-Commissioner's-Woods North was empty, but South had about 30 Lesser Scaup, a pair of Mallards and lots of Canada Geese. Stokely Ponds Westernmost had only a drake Bufflehead, while the Weedy Pond had a female Hooded Merganser, a Coot, a dozen RingNecked Ducks, and a dozen Lesser Scaup. The last pond had the best viewing with birds swimming by only feet away: 3 male Bufflehead, 2 pair of Scaup, 3 Coots and Canada Geese. St Paul's Cemetery Pond had my first TREE SWALLOWS of the year, as well as 50 RingNecked Ducks, about 50 Lesser Scaup, with a few Mallards, Shovelers, GreenWinged Teal, Coots and Canada Geese mixed in. Thomas Marsh had SIXTY-SEVEN GreenWinged Teal in one spot alone, and probably more in the interior. There were also 20 Mallards and maybe a dozen Lesser Scaup. In a tiny low spot filled with a few inches of water in a field just west of the marsh were jammed a pair of Mallards and THIRTY-TWO BlueWinged Teal. They were packed and crowded in when the marsh had lots of room! Black Swamp Nature Center: a pair of Mallards, 3 Horned Grebes, a Yellow-Bellied Sap sucker, a Kingfisher, and my first GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS of the year. 4/6/2 Briefly stated, the Commissioner's Pond North was primarily Shovelers (perhaps 50!), while the South had primarily Lesser Scaup (50 maybe). The Reservoir was almost totally Ruddy Ducks (perhaps 50) with a pair of Redheads. Thomas Marsh was evenly divided between BlueWinged and GreenWinged Teal with maybe (you guessed it) 50 of each... Pam Adams reports "Found a VESPER SPARROW on my a.m. walk here on the farm in N.Paulding Co." 4/7/2 Thomas Marsh with only BlueWinged Teal, Lapland Longspurs (yesterday there were none!) and about 25 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS! 4/10/2 MIcki and Doug report on OhioBirds@Envirolink: "Shorebirds are showin' up in the wet areas, and this is good! Today we found a nice group at the Thomas Wetlands southeast of Antwerp along County Road 176 (DeLorme P. 34, C-2) . Among them were a number of Greater Yellowlegs, several Lesser Yellowlegs, a few Pectorals, and one of our earliest Am. Golden- Plovers!! We also got our first Vesper Sparrow of the year at this location and our first Brown Thrasher at home in the old backyard. All in all a nice morning in the ol' Swamp."4/12/2 PAULDING COUNTY was better with a flock of over 200 Sandpipers, mostly Pectorals, but about 25 Greater Yellowlegs and a few Lesser Yellowlegs (my personal firsts for the season in bold) with the 100 or so BlueWinged Teal at Thomas Marsh. It was not good viewing, looking into the west at sunset with a darkened sky however. St Paul's Cemetery Pond was extremely reduced with a pair of ducks (still viewing west so didn't try real hard to determine species) and maybe 5 pair of Canada Geese. Reservoir had all of eight Ruddy ducks and lots of fishermen. Stokely Ponds had Canada Geese and 2 female Bufflehead. Ponds by the Commissioner's Woods South had only Canada Geese, while North had a pair of Shovelers, 2 pair of BlueWinged Teal and a pair of Mallards. Best spot tonight was Black Swamp Nature Center where I took a slow brief stroll (you know it's slow and brief when you take a 14year old dachshund)! Lots of a Coot, a PiedBilled Grebe, a Kingfisher, 18 Canada Geese, Field Sparrows, Bluebirds, Flickers, RedBellied Woodpeckers etc but also Phoebes, GoldenCrowned Kinglets, YellowRumped Warblers, BlueGray Gnatcatchers, Hermit Thrushes, a Brown Thrasher and (best bird) an Ovenbird at 10 feet with his erect crown looking so much like a cartoonist's version of a redhead with his hair on end! Today's temperature was such that a Red Admiral couldn't quite get airborne, and yet couldn't resist trying. The Anglewings seemed to have no problem however. Enroute home at 115/208 were 4 Wild Turkeys out for a stroll, near the road in a bare field. 4/15/2 Paulding County wasn't alot better with the Black Swamp Nature Center, and Pond by the Commissioner's Woods South practically birdless, while North had a female Ruddy Duck (yes, i made darn sure it wasn't a black scoter, grin), a Mallard pair, and about 8 pairs of BlueWinged Teal. Stokely Ponds had one Redhead. Reservoir people activity was quite high, so of course bird activity was low and on the far side of the wide expanse of water: 3 RedBreasted Mergansers, about 25 Ruddy Ducks, about 25 Mallards, a few Redheads, and a Common Loon. 4/18/02 Pam Adams reports from her Paulding/DefianceCoLnRd farm: "First Palm Warblers (3) of the year on the property this evening. Also a House Wren, Tree swallows, Savannah and White -throated Sparrows, and 1 lonely Ruby crowned Kinglet." 4/23/02 Dunakins report on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: "Yep, there were Caspian Terns again in Paulding County today- three of 'em at the Black Swamp Nature Center across the creek from the Paulding Reservoir. When it rains, it pours terns evidently."4/26/2 Doug and Micki write on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: " After a brief hiatus this week, the migration seems to be picking up momentum in our little corner of the state. While our warbler total today was most anemic (Yellow, Yellow-rumped and Black and White), we managed some new songbirds, including Gray Catbird, Eastern Kingbird, and Warbling and White-eyed Vireos. Our best results came from the shorebirds, including several Common Snipe and new arrivals Dunlin and Semipalmated Plover (our earliest ever). All in all a lovely day and a great encouragement!" 4/27/02 Took the Paulding tour after the Dunakins' encouraging report yesterday: Commissioner's Pond South sure enough held my first six Dunlin (say "Dunakins' Dunlin"), 4 BlueWinged Teal, and a Semipalmated Plover. North only had Canada Geese and 4 RingBilled Gulls. Stokely Ponds West had nothing but a couple Mallards and Canada Geese. East had lots of Barn and Tree Swallows as well as 9 Scaup. Reservoir only had 2 dozen RingBilled Gulls. Black Swamp Nature Center started off slow (WhiteThroated Sparrows, Yellow and YellowRumped Warblers, Towhees, Kinglets, Gnatcatchers, Kingfisher) but at the Cattail Pond right at my feet on the other side of the Wooden Viewing Board were a pair of Louisiana Waterthrushes, the best viewing I have ever had. When my eyes were so full I thought they'd burst, I went to get the videocamera and they became their usual selves, going in and out of the rushes in a reclusive manner. At the St Paul's Cemetery Pond were Mallards and Canada Geese and my first Spotted Sandpiper of the season. The Thomas Marsh only had a few each Mallards and Greater Yellowlegs. At Paulding Co Rds 230/85 were HUNDREDS OF PECTORAL SANDPIPERS for no good evident reason, eating something in the grass. 4/29/2 Doug & Micki Dunakin on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: " Today, although bleak and chilly for the most part, served to remind us that the migration sometimes goes on even if we are unaware of it. Yesterdays howling winds and the chilly morning brought us a small group of new migrants at the Black Swamp Audubon Society's sanctuary near Antwerp: Blue-winged, Nashville and C. Yellowthroat for new warblers and N. Mockingbird, Baltimore Oriole and Solitary Sandpiper to top off a fairly good one and a half of birding. A resident next to the Sanctuary called us this evening to report a Whip-poor-will calling out back of her house near dark. We don't get too many of those as it is only a migrant in our area." 4/30/2 Doug & Micki Dunakin report on Ohiobirds@Envirolink, " A good day for late April in Paulding County! Micki and I tallied eight species of warblers (Yellow, Yellow-rumped (dozens), Palm, Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, Orange-crowned, C. Yellowthroat and N. Waterthrush), four species of vireos (Blue-headed, Warbling, Yellow-throated and Red-eyed), and six species of shorebirds (Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Spotted, Pectoral and, of course, Killdeer). " 5/2/02 Stopped by Thomas Marsh to see the WILLET 5/3/02 A late evening walk around Paulding's Black Swamp Nature Center still yields my first Wood Thrush, RedEyed Vireos, and (one of my very favorite birds) Yellow-Throated Vireos of the season. A Northern Waterthrush was wagging at the water's edge among the brush, also in the Cattail Marsh, which was all I had time for. My first Canada Geese goslings of the year had hatched, as well, a brood of six. Dunakins report on OhioBirds@EnviroLink: " In our [Antwerp] backyard, a lone Pine Siskin enjoyed our upside-down feeder. At the Paulding Reservoir, a flock of 40 Bonaparte's Gulls was joined by 6 Forster's Terns and a few other stragglers such as Am. Wigeon and a small flock of Am. Coots. The Paulding Sewage Lagoons, which has not been producing many birds lately, contained 20 Least Sandpipers and 3 Semipalmated Plovers. On the other hand, the Thomas wetlands, which had lots of birds yesterday, seemed nearly deserted, except for a mix of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. " 5/3/02 Pam A. reports from her Paulding County farm: "Hi, Haven't been out a lot due to the wind. I was rewarded today with the first Green backed Heron of the year on our puddle pond. Also got to SEE a Wood Thrush. Usually when I go to where I think the song is originating, the song starts to emerge from the place I just left! Also saw one of the"empi" Flycatchers...silent, of course, and heard a Baltimore Oriole." 5/4/02 Today's adventure was with the Black Swamp Audubon Society's trip to the Society's Sanctuary just outside Antwerp in Paulding County (after crossing the State Route 49 bridge in Antwerp, go east on CoRd 192 about 1/2 mile before turning right (south) on a stone road that looks like driveway. Turn left after about 1/4 mile at the barn, head down the lane to the parking lot about 1/4 mi east of the barn). Very little movement and no unusual birds or wildflowers (GreatCrested Flycatcher, Common Yellowthroat, RoseBreasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole, Black-Throated Green and Yellow Rumped Warblers, 4 Solitary Sandpipers, etc). I did, however, stop at the Thomas Marsh enroute home where mixed in with the 75 Yellowlegs, 9 Dunlin, 6 Solitary Sandpipers, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, 10 Mallards and 4 BlueWinged Teal were three of my first-of-the-season SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS.5/7/02 Unbelievable night. Micki and I were on Paulding County Road 230 where there were many Scarlet Tanagers, many Parula, Palms, a few Chestnut Sided, a Blackpoll, Tennessees, A CERULEAN (first I've seen locally, ie, within 10 miles of home), Grosbeaks, etc etc and an amazing

I am totally awestruck. Doug found a Prothonotary at Paulding County's Black Swamp Nature Center, Denny reports 2 Mockingbirds in his yard in Williams County near US6/SR191 and Joe found a Nighthawk tonight in Fulton County's Delta! Denny S. also reported there was a big warbler fallout at his Williams County home tonight, with many Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, as well. 5/11/02 Today Micki, Doug, Roger, Lach and I birded Paulding County. Black Swamp Nature Center was my assigned area. Definitely not a fallout, but not bad either. Warblers that Lach, Doug and I saw there: 1.a Nashville, a 2.Black&White, 3.a Parula, 4.a Blackburnian, 5.a BayBreasted, 6.2 Ovenbirds, 7.2 Northern Waterthrush, 8.3 BlackThroated Greens, 9.3 Redstarts, 10.3 BlackThroated Blue, 11.4 Magnolias, 12.4 Yellowrump, 13.8 Palm, 14.10 Yellow, 15.17 Common Yellowthroats. Others included: RedHeaded Woodpecker, RedBreasted & WhiteBreasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Great Crested Flycatcher, Great Blue Heron, a Peewee, a Kingbird, a Phoebe, a Coot, a Swamp Sparrow, a Hairy Woodpecker, a Brown Thrasher, a Gnatcatcher, Kingfisher, a RedEyed Vireo, a YellowThroated Vireo, a Willow Flycatcher, 2 Eastern Bluebirds,2 Green Herons, 2 Least Flycatchers, 2 House Wrens, 2 Wood Thrush, 2 Chimney Swifts, 2 RedBellied Woodpeckers, 2 Mallards, 2 Turkey Vultures, 2 Downy Woodpeckers, 2 BlackCapped Chickadees, 3 Flickers, 3 Indigo BUntings, 3 Barn Swallows, 4 Chipping Sparrows, 4 Crows, 6 Tree Swallows, 6 Song Sparrows, 6 Northern RoughWinged Swallows, 8 Baltimore Orioles, 9 RingBilled Gulls, 10 House Sparrows, 11 Canada Geese, 11 Robins, 12 Cardinals, 12 Grackles, 12 Cowbirds, 12 Blue Jays, lots of Warbling Vireos, 22 WhiteThroated Sparrows (probably undercounted!), 34 Starlings, 34 Goldfinches, 43 Catbirds, at least. At other places (Commissioner's Woods etc) we had Loon, Cliff Swallows, Wilson's Warbler, Hooded Merganser, Wood Duck, Ruddy DUck, Cormorant, Dunlin, Least/Pectoral/Spotted/Solitary Sandpiper, Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs, BlueWinged Teal,16.ChestnutSided/ 17.Blackpoll/ 18.Tennesee/ 19.Cape May Warblers, Scarlet Tanagers. At Sewage Lagoons was my first Bobolink of the season. At 200/105 was a MOCKINGBIRD! We parted about 2pm because of rain, but had 113 species. I'm really not sure what a good number is, but Doug does, and he said, " Anyway, we had a really good day, one of our top five, I should say." 5/13/02 Doug and Micki report: " Yep, the Black Terns are everywhere, it would seem. There were even 3 flying about the Paulding Reservoir this afternoon." 5/15/02 Top bird of the day was definitely that reported by Doug and Micki Dunakin: "Thanks to a call from esteemed Hoosier birder Jim Haw, Micki and I just returned from the Thomas Wetlands, temporary home to a HUDSONIAN GODWIT, a glorious male in breeding plumage. Accompanying this individual were two brilliant Black-bellied Plovers and a host of assorted shorebirds that weren't there just six hours earlier...Just a followup to what turned out to be a great afternoon at the Thomas wetlands. We returned to the wetlands after supper and failed to find the Hudsonian Godwit until it found us- it appeared just as we were ready to leave and dropped into one of the newer, shallow ponds west of the main wetland. It was in good company- among more than 110 Dunlins and literally dozens of Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs and Pectorals was a lone Ruddy Turnstone. The Black-bellied Plovers seen earlier had not returned, but our most cooperative Godwit posed for great looks no more than 200 feet from the road." Pam Adams' Paulding County farm: "Common yellowthroat, American Redstart and Magnolia warblers, and a BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO." 5/16/02 Doug & Micki report on Ohiobirds: "Well, today was another day, and the Hudsonian Godwit and his buddies decided to relocate without notice. We did find a good number of Dunlin, several Greater Yellowlegs and a lot of Lesser Yellowlegs, but there wasn't much variety at the Thomas wetlands. There were three Redhead ducks in the company of a lone Ruddy, which is quite late for this area. In fact, we have seen 15 species of ducks this May, far above our usual 5 to 7. And most of them have been at the Thomas wetlands. Amazing what a little water can do, isn't it? " 5/18/02 Got home, and we(?) decided to go shopping in Fort Wayne, so I persuaded enough to stop by the Thomas Marsh where I could quickly see 75 Dunlin, but very little of anything else: two Least Sandpipers, two Greater Yellowlegs. Another Cedar Waxwing flew across the road as neared NewHaven IN. Later, you guessed it, got stuck in the parking lot of the restaurant, unable to walk for a minute or so. How embarrassing! 6/1/02 Best bird of the morning was definitely the female RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, clearly visible at Thomas Wetlands (Paulding County Roads 176/61, or Harmann/Gonser as the roads are called in DeLorme's Gazeteer), with about 24 Semipalmated Plovers, 21 Mallards, 20 Killdeer, 12 Canada Geese, 8 Dunlin, 2 BlueWinged Teal, an odd very-out-of-place Brown Thrasher, and about 50 peeps (SemiPalmated and 2 Least Sandpipers). Peterjohn says that "their northward passage is normally quite rapid; many remain only a few minutes or hours. The earliest migrants appeared between May 7 and 10. They are most likely to be observed between May 15 and 25. Few linger into June...now rare spring migrants along western Lake Erie with one to thre sigthings most years...accidental to casual spring visitors to the northern and glaciated central counties, producing four to seven records a decade." Spent far too much time here and so had to skip most of the other Paulding County locations due to other obligations. The North Pond-by-the-Commissioner's Woods had shorebirds as well, but viewing into the early morning sun was well nigh impossible. Reservoir was deserted birdwise, but cranked peoplewise. About 2pm I returned at my earliest convenience to the Thomas Marsh with cameras and found NO shorebirds at all! Went to the North Pond-by-the-Commissioner's Woods and found an amazing FEMALE WILSON'S PHALAROPE with three male WILSON'S PHALAROPES with 4 Killdeer and about 100 SemiPalmated Sandpipers. Joe Hildreth caught up with me there about 4:30pm, said he'd been to Thomas Marsh, had seen all the shorebirds I mentioned except for the Dunlin! 6/2/02 No other shorebirds at 8am Thomas Wetlands except for a Wilson's Phalarope and 4 Killdeer. 4 Mallards were all the waterfowl there, too. St Paul Cemetery Pond had a Ruddy drake, a Shoveler drake, 18 Mallards (all drakes except for a hen with her 10 babies), 2 Killdeer, 2 Great Blue Heron, and a Brown Thrasher, evidently out-of-place long enough to get a drink. Paulding Reservoir had a pair of Ruddy Ducks. Pond by the Commissioner's Woods South had 3 Ruddy Ducks, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 2 Killdeer, and a Mallard. North had the same 4 Wilson's Phalaropes (1 male, 3 female), 6 Killdeer, 16 Mallards (all adult), and no peeps. Also, a Wood Thrush serenaded from the woods, and I saw a Savannah Sparrow with the brightest yellow eye-stripe ever. 6/3/02 Paulding County Birding went downhill with the cold windy wet weather. The best spot was Pond-by-the-Commissioner's-Woods North, where I ran into Dan Sanders. He had come up all the way from Columbus to see the phalaropes, which were nowhere to be seen. We had a pleasant conversation though, and I got to see a White-Rumped Sandpiper through his most excellent Leica scope <grin>. A Northern Shoveler Drake, a family of Canadas, 3 RingBilled Gulls, 2 Spotted Sandpipers and a pair of Mallards were there, too, as well as half-a-dozen Killdeer and maybe 25 Semipalmated Sandpipers. Thomas Wetlands 5pm: 20 Mallards (almost all adult drakes), 12 Canada Geese, 2 Killdeer, Great Blue Heron. Mr Sanders tells the rest in his Ohio-Birds message "A trip to the new Thomas Wetlands* Northwest o Paulding paid off, however, as I was able to locate a single male WILSON'S PHALAROPE after a 20-minute search. Also present were: 4 White-rumped Sandpipers, 2 Dunlin, 1 Semi-palmated Plover, Semi-palmated Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Sandpiper." St Paul Cemetery Pond 74 Canada Geese, 3 Mallards. Reservoir 66 Canada Geese. Stokely Ponds A drake with 2 hen Mallards and their broods of perhaps 10 ducklings each, 4 Canadas with 7 small goslings. 6/4/02 It was 8pm before I made it to Thomas Marsh tonight: 3 Great Blue Herons, 25 Mallards, 100 Canada Geese, 6 Killdeer, another WhiteRumped Sandpiper, 2 FEMALE WILSON'S PHALAROPES, 2 RUDDY TURNSTONES, (Peterjohn says, "...The first turnstones are not expected until May 5-10 with the largest movements between May 20 and June 5. The last migrants may not depart until June 10-15.") and a SNOW GOOSE! Had to run home to get Pam, Mom and my sister to go see them, returning to the marsh at 9pm and staying until dark. 6/5/02 The SNOW GOOSE was still at Thomas Marsh 7pm tonight associating with a group of 150 Canada Geese and 25 Mallards near Paulding County Roads 51/176, although there were no shorebirds apparent. "Most spring Snow Geese appear in March and depart by the first week of April. Only scattered immatures and nonbreeders remain after April 15-20, some through May 15-23, although none have attempted to summer in Ohio."--Peterjohn DICKCISSELS were aplenty in the same field, first of the season for me. At 61/176 (the other end of the mile) were the neighbors' two white Pekins ducks that refuse to stay in their pond.

Commissioner's Pond North had only a drake Shoveler, 2 Canada Geese, 2 Mallards, 2 Killdeer, 2 Spotted Sandpipers. Stokely Pond West had 25 Canada Geese (mostly goslings, one riding a parent's back!), Bobolinks, a Brown Thrasher, Chimney Swifts, Barn Swallows, Kingbirds, Meadowlarks. Reservoir and Nature Center bleak and deserted, except by recreational humans. St Paul's Cemetery Pond 22 Geese, 2 Mallards, 2 Spotted Sandpipers. 6/6/02 Pam Adams and I saw the Snow Goose again for its third day at Thomas Marsh, still with the 150 or so adult Canada Geese at 51/176. Not far away were a BlueWinged Teal, 25 Mallards, 4 male and 2 female Wood Ducks (all adults), 2 female and 1 male WILSON'S PHALAROPES, 6 Killdeer, 4 Great Blue Herons, and the two domestic white Pekin ducks, at 61/176. Stokely Ponds West had 10 adult Mallards, while East had 3 Ruddy Ducks, and 3 Canada Geese. St Paul's Cemetery Pond had RoughWinged Swallows and a pair of Spotted Sandpipers. The Reservoir was empty, but Black Swamp Nature Center had Kingfisher at least. Pond-by-the Commissioner's-Woods had 3 drake Mallards, a Wood Duck with 7 tiny ducklings, a Canada Goose with a broken wing, and lots of shorebirds. There was lots of movement, but I would guess there to be about 150 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 30 Semipalmated Plovers, 5 WhiteRumped Sandpipers. Best bird, however, was a Bonaparte's Gull without a black head (just a dot behind his eye). Peterjohn says "...they remain locally common migrants until early May but most depart by May 15. Small numbers of non-breeders linger through the end of the month...Summering Bonaparte's are accidental to casual visitors to inland reservoirs, invariably as isolated individuals."6/7/02 Stopped for five minutes at Thomas Marsh enroute to a graduation party tonight: the usual numbers of Canadas, Mallards, Killdeer, Great Blue Heron, still a drake Shoveler, and now a pair of RedHead Ducks. The Snow Goose was still there, for day four. Couldn't find any shorebirds, but it was a very quick look. 6/8/02 An 8am visit to Thomas Marsh found the Canada Geese down to only 24 individuals (from about 150). Most prominently missing was the snow goose. The drake BlueWinged Teal and Shoveler were still there, as well as 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers. The usuals included 3 Great Blue Heron, about 25 Mallards and 6 visible Killdeer (with many more calling). Bill Whan et al from Columbus saw here at the Marsh (didn't say what time of day, but after visiting Lake LaSuAnn in Williams County): "...the Thomas Wetlands still had a changing retinue of shorebirds, which for us included a RUDDY TURNSTONE, a FEMALE WILSON'S PHALAROPE, a flock of 28 WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS, 6 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, a Semipalmated Sandpiper, and a Semipalmated Plover. While the Reservoir and St Paul's Cemetery Pond were empty, a drake RingNecked Duck swam with about 40 Mallards (mostly ducklings) at Stokely Ponds. Black Swamp Nature Center had 3 Green Herons, a Great Blue Heron and a pair of Wood Ducks during my brief stop there. At Ponds-by-the-Commissioner's Woods were 67 Canada Geese (including of course the guy with the broken wing), 6 Killdeer, 2 Mallards, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, and 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers. 6/9/02 Thomas Marsh was nearly empty with zero canada geese and zero shorebirds. Still there were the drake Shoveler, 2 Brown Thrashers, 6 Great Blue Herons, 6 Killdeer, about 25 Mallards. A Savannah Sparrow serenaded me nicely to start the Sunday morning. The Reservoir , Nature Center, and St Paul's Cemetery Pond were empty again, but a Ruddy Duck drake, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 2 Mallards, 3 Canada Geese, 8 Killdeer, a single Semipalmated Sandpiper and a serenading Wood Thrush were at the Ponds-by-the-Commissioner's-Woods. Stokely Ponds had 50 Canada Geese (mostly goslings out for a morning walk), singing Bobolinks, and a calling Willow Flycatcher.6/10/02 Tonight ends my babysitting of Paulding County for the Dunakins. It was a fond farewell from these past ten days: Pond-by-the-Commissioner's-Woods North looked empty at first, but located 6 Killdeer, 6 Mallards, and a Spotted Sandpiper, when with a sudden rush as out of nowhere, 6 WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS flew in easy scope view, making textbook showing of wings-past-tail, side-striping, and even the white rump! South, St Paul's Cemetery Pond, and Nature Center were pretty empty, while the Reservoir had only a pair of Mallards. Stokely Ponds West had 47 Canadas (mostly goslings), and a Mallard. A Savannah Sparrow serenaded me close by, no need for binoculars even. A huge flock of starlings drowned out the usual song of the Bobolinks. East had only a Mallard hen and her seven ducklings, with Kingbirds looking on. Thomas Marsh found the FEMALE WILSON'S PHALAROPE lingering still, with the Northern Shoveler and Blue-WInged Teal drakes, about 25 Mallards (almost all adult drakes), the 2 white Pekins, 3 Great Blue Herons, loud Dickcissel calling and about 21 Killdeer.6/12/02 Paulding County was graced today by two Black Terns at the drained Paulding sewage lagoon. There were also 6 WhiteRumped and 3 Semipalmated Sandpipers among the usuals (Mallards, Canada Geese, Killdeer, and 2 Spotted Sandpipers) there. Thomas Marsh was more difficult viewing with the setting sun, but the female Wilson's Phalarope persisted, and a Dowitcher visited. A few more shorebirds were present but pretty much just silhouettes. Dickcissels called from every area of the marsh, and a Brown Thrasher called and drank at the water's edge, not exactly his usual habitat. 6/14/02 Paulding County was reduced today to the usual suspects or nothing at all (Commissioner's-Woods Ponds, St Paul Cemetery Pond, Reservoir-- Mallards & Canada Geese, Spotted Sandpipers & Killdeer), so I spent the extra time at Thomas Marsh (where one can add the Shoveler drake and 2 pairs of Wood Ducks) listening to and spotting the Grasshopper Sparrows and Dickcissels.6/15-16/02 Paulding County: Birds remained the same over the weekend at the spots, with the exception of an additional Northern Shoveler Sunday at Commissioner's Pond North. Both days there were 2 WhiteRumped Sandpipers and 3 Semipalmated Sandpipers at the Pond-by-the-Commissioner's-Ponds. 3 Ruddy Ducks (one drake and two hens) were on the Stokely Pond both days. A BlueWinged Teal and a Northern Shoveler drake at Thomas Marsh. Almost all local spots had the usual Mallards, Canada Geese,Killdeer, Spotted Sandpipers etc. Spent the extra time scoping the beautiful Savannah Sparrows I so often walk by at the Sewage Lagoons. 6/17/02 Paulding County (not counting the always-there Canada Geese, Mallards, Spotted Sandpipers and Killdeer): Sewage Lagoon North: 6 WhiteRumped and 4 SemiPalmated Sandpipers at close view, with one drake Northern Shoveler; Stokely Ponds 2 Ruddy Drakes and 2 Ruddy Hens. The grass was mowed today and yet the Bobolinks, Savannah Sparrows, and Dickcissels sang from the fence around the pond. I couldn't help wondering if their nests had survived, or if the person mowing had noticed these easily-overlooked yet gorgeous birds. A tractor was spraying herbicide on the adjoining field as well. Thomas Marsh had poor light for shorebirds, silhouetted at the extreme limit of my scope, but judging from size etc I'd say they had 4 WhiteRumped and 4 Semipalmated Sandpipers, eating at the feet of Giant Canada Geese, kinda comically. The BlueWinged Teal drake there was in perfect lighting however, to show off his fantastic plumage. A male Shoveler remained here as well. Reservoir, St Paul's Cemetery Pond, Nature Center had nothing apparent. 6/20/02 Couldn't go out until 10pm, so listened at Thomas Marsh and St Paul Cemetery. Didn't hear anything, even playing the CD. 6/21/02 Looked like a slow day at first, with 6 Spotted Sandpipers, 21 Killdeer, a dozen Mallards and 50 Canada Geese at Paulding Sewage Lagoons. Reservoir and Nature Center and St Paul Cemetery Pond were equally dull if I don't mention the above species. Stokely Ponds had two pairs of Ruddy Ducks, as well as hundreds of Starlings in the mown grass. Still, Dickcissels called from the weedy parts of the wheat field across the road. At Thomas Marsh however was a BlackBellied Plover! A Harrier flew overhead as Dickcissels called and Mallards/Canadas/Wood Ducks swam and Killdeer screamed. Pleasant ending to the day, about 8:30pm. 6/22/02 Micki and Doug, back from Alaska, explored Thomas Marsh back at home in Paulding County: "Acting upon John's post yesterday, Micki and I did indeed locate the Black-bellied Plover at the Thomas Wetlands and the Ruddy Ducks at the Stokely ponds on the west side of Paulding village. In addition, the fields adjacent to the Thomas wetlands along Township Road 61 yielded Dickcissels and Grasshopper Sparrow. What a great way to return home!" 6/27/02 Paulding County: A return to the banal and blase today: Commissioner's Ponds North 25 Mallards, 15 Wood Ducks, 1 BlueWinged Teal drake, 15 Killdeer, 2 Spotted Sandpipers. South about 50 Canada Geese. Stokely Ponds Dickcissels, 8 Ruddy Ducks, 12 Canada Geese. Black Swamp Nature Center 4 Wood Ducks, a Kingfisher, a Great Blue Heron, a Hairy Woodpecker, and Orchard Oriole St Paul's Cemetery Pond 2 Ruddy Duck drakes, 14 Mallards Thomas Marsh Mallards and Killdeer, Bobolinks, Dickcissels, Grasshopper Sparrows. 7/2/2 The Paulding County Tour resulted in only average results, with the possible exception of five Ruddy Ducks at the Thomas Marsh. Meaning they might be interesting. To somebody. Somewhere. <grin> Otherwise just Mallards, Canada Geese, Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers. 7/11/02 After yesterday, decided to try Paulding County. Commissioner's Ponds were best, with a Greater Yellowlegs loudly calling above the Killdeer cries as I got out of the car. He was easily spotted, too, standing tall above his dozen or so cousins, the Lesser Yellowlegs. There were lots of Least and Solitary Sandpipers, but I didn't see any spotted. Mallards were the only waterfowl. Second best was Thomas Marsh but viewing into the west was far from ideal. The only place I could clearly see and identify shorebirds was the far west "puddle" where there were 13 Lesser Yellowlegs, 3 Least Sandpipers, 2 Solitary Sandpipers, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, and Mallards and Killdeer. St Paul's had only a Spotted Sandpiper, Killdeer and Mallards. Only Wood Ducklings and Mallard Ducklings scattered as I entered Black Swamp Nature Center, where a beautiful new building for the Nature Center has sprung up almost overnight! Nothing at all was at the Reservoir or Stokely Ponds, but this is Paulding County Fair week so there was lots of activity there, including a go-cart racing around Stokely Ponds. 7/15/02 Nothing earthshaking, but at 8pm, Paulding County's Commissioner's Woods Pond North had a Semipalmated Plover, a Great Blue Heron, 5 Solitary Sandpipers, 5 Wood Ducks, 8 Spotted Sandpipers, 18 Pectoral Sandpipers, 21 Lesser Yellowlegs, 23 Canada Geese, 44 Least Sandpipers, and 211 Killdeer, conservatively speaking. 2 Ruddy Ducks were in the South pond. 20 Ducklings (Wood Duck and Mallard) rushed for the cattails at my approach at Black Swamp Nature Center, but the Great Blue Heron stood still. Just 75 Canada Geese at the Reservoir, while only 10 Mallards and 25 Canada Geese were at Stokely Ponds. It was 9pm by the time I reached Thomas Wetlands where the setting sun made viewing nigh impossible, except for the far pondlet, where there were 2 Great Blue Herons, 2 Solitary Sandpipers, 3 Semipalmated Plovers, 3 Pectoral Sandpipers, 22 Lesser Yellowlegs, 25 Killdeer and 32 Mallards. 7/18/2 Quick tour of Paulding County found the usual shorebirds in the usual numbers. Only unique, or semi-interesting bird was a female Ruddy at Stokely Pond West. 7/21/2 Back from a weekend trip to Gladwin Michigan (where the best birds on this non-birding trip were Sedge and Marsh Wrens) found this happy report in my In-Box: "Hi, John! Your latest post, coupled with the scarcity of shorebird habitat in northeast Indiana, inspired Sandy, Marisa, Frannie, and me to check out the toll road/OH 66 mudflat, the Paulding sewage ponds, and the Thomas wetlands today. The former had the most birds, but the Paulding sewage ponds had the greatest identified variety, 9 species of shorebirds, and the only slightly unusual one we saw, Stilt Sandpiper. Other species were killdeer, Spotted, Solitary, Lesser Yellowlegs, Least, Semipalmated, Pectoral, and S-b Dowitcher, and we added no additional shorebird species at the other two spots. --Jim Haw" 7/24/2 Despite the loud machinery presumably loading the sludge into waiting tanker semi-trucks from the Paulding Sewage Lagoon North, the shorebirds didn't seem to mind at all, with similar species and similar numbers as before. TEN STILT SANDPIPERS were a standout though. Stokely Ponds had only a few Canada Geese, the Reservoir only 33 Canada Geese, Nature Center only 20 or so scattering Wood Ducks and Mallards, St Paul Cemetery Pond only 16 Mallards and a Solitary Sandpiper, Thomas Marsh down to 2 silhouetted Dowitchers and 6 Lesser Yellowlegs. Micki had a call from Jim Haw of Fort Wayne fame telling her that he saw an AMERICAN AVOCET at the Commissioner Pond North earlier this morning, so I returned after the sewage lagoon workers had left and sure enough there he was, and remained when I left about 9pm. 7/25/2 Doug and Micki Dunakin on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: "The current work on the north lagoon at the Paulding Sewage Lagoons has resulted in a wonderful temporary shorebird habitat. Prompted by reports of an American Avocet yesterday (which I could not locate today), I ventured over to the lagoon around 8:00 a.m. and discovered several hundred shorebirds, among which were good numbers of Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Pectorals, and Killdeer. Lesser numbers of Semipalmated, Least and Solitary Sandpipers were also present. There were also three Stilt Sandpipers and a few Short-billed Dowitchers. These birds were widely scattered among weeds, and I couldn't begin to estimate numbers accurately, but I should say somewhere between five hundred and a thousand birds were present. Fearing some sort of reprisal from the Lagoon cleaners, I left before they began work in earnest." 7/27/2 Met up with two of my very favorite people (Jim Haw and Marisa of Fort Wayne fame) today at Paulding County's Sewage Lagoons. The rain and cooler weather had dramatically reduced numbers here, but there were still plenty of Pectorals/Semipalmated/ Least/ Spotted /Solitary Sandpipers, Killdeer, and Lesser Yellowlegs. I could only come up with a single Greater Yellowlegs and a single ShortBilled Dowitcher, however, and almost left without Stilt Sandpiper when sharp-eyed Marisa caught sight of three against the very back shore. Thomas Marsh had only Killdeer (only 3!), Spotted Sandpipers (only 2!), and Mallards (20?). Reservoir was empty, Stokely Ponds had only a Mallard, Nature Center had Wood Ducks & Mallards (maybe 20 total), and 30 Canada Geese, as well as Kingfisher, GreenHeron and 2 Great Blue Herons. St Paul Cemetery Pond had 22 Mallards. 7/28/2 Later tonight I had a little extra time, so I thought I'd number the birds at Paulding County's Commissioner's Pond, but not a chance! A flock of a hundred was in the air when I arrived. Shocked to find the reason: a very dark PEREGRINE FALCON, somewhat like the juvenile Peale's pictured in Sibley's, was strafing everything in the pond. The Great Blue Herons and the Canada Geese actually left the area (except for the broken-winged Canada), but the sandpipers would fly up in groups of a hundred or so, circle back, and evidently hide along the edges and in the grass, as it was very hard to find any birds at all on the ground. He disappeared for a bit into the shrubs and trees of the creek behind the sewage lagoon, reappeared, chased the sandpipers a bit more, and then disappeared again, this time over the Commissioner's Woods next to the Sewage Lagoons. I never saw him catch anything. Nice close to the day. 7/29/2 Doug & Micki Dunakin on Ohio-Birds@Envirolink: "I must post this quickly between storms. Micki and I just returned from visiting the Paulding Sewage Ponds (around 4:15 p.m.) and, amazingly, the immature Peregrine Falcon reported by John Yochum last night was still present. We were only able to view the bird for about 30 seconds; it seemed to have caught a snake and, after soaring about the lagoon a time or two, set down behind the lagoon and disappeared out of sight. The bird apparently had not been appreciated by the migrant shorebirds we had come to watch; apart from a few Killdeer, there wasn't another shorebird in sight! All in all, a remarkable sight. This is only the second Peregine Micki has seen in Paulding County and was my first. 8/1/2 Didn't get to the Commissioner's Pond until 5pm but still the workers were there, so didn't stay to count the crowd of usual shorebirds. Scanned to look for unusual birds but didn't see anything unusual...8/3/2 Rode my new bike to Paulding County's Commissioner's Pond North. Wow, my old bike was much lighter plus I'm now carrying scope, binoculars, etc! This may be too much for me at age 43 <weary grin>! Nothing unusual here. For the unusual (3 Avocets and a Whimbrel, 100 Stilts, Reeve etc) go three counties east (thru Henry, Wood, to Fremont's Pickerel Creek Wildlife Area on US 6 in Sandusky County). Check the birds there at the Toledo Naturalist's Association's Rare Bird Alert number: (419) 877-9640. Back home here I made an attempt to count the birds amidst all the grass in the lagoon. They are so close to the observer that one has to be very careful not to alarm them lest they then spring into the air. I counted and then rounded cuz there's no way these numbers can be totally accurate: 1 Stilt Sandpiper (ok, you got me. probably accurate), 2 Canada Geese (okay, this number is totally accurate. It's the broken-winged guy and his companion), 8 Mallards (alright already), 11 Semipalmated Plovers (please), 15 Greater Yellowlegs, 40 Lesser Yellowlegs, 45 Killdeer (much lower than usual), 75 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 175 Pectoral Sandpipers. I saw zero least sandpipers. 8/4/2 Commissioner's Ponds looked much the same as yesterday, except I found some Least, Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers today. Ran in Jim Haw of Fort Wayne Stockbridge Audubon Society, who warned me of what I would find at Thomas Marsh: a Greater Yellowlegs, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, a Pectoral Sandpiper, and (in the plowed strip on CR61 just south of the marsh) TWO UPLAND SANDPIPERS.8/5/2 Arrived at 7:10pm at Paulding Sewage Lagoons and watched the last worker leave. Much the same as it has been with regular numbers of Killdeer, Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary/Spotted/Least/Semipalmated/Pectoral Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, but no dowitchers. 8/8/2 Paulding's Sewage Lagoon had hundreds of shorebirds still, and I did take a count, but my dog Bijou decided to go down for a drink while I wasn't watching-- I lost my notes PULLING HER OUT OF THE STINKY MUCK. Fortunately I had a blanket in the trunk to get her home for a bath! I'd estimate in recollection Killdeer, Pectoral and SemiPalmated Sandpipers all over 100 each, about 50 Lesser Yellowlegs, about 10 each of Solitary Sandpipers, SemiPalmated Plovers and Greater Yellowlegs, and 6 Mallards. The workers had just left at 7:20pm. Least Sandpipers were striking juvenile red-- about 50 maybe. 8/11/2 After searching at least 2 hours at Paulding Sewage Lagoon I find only the "normal" birds in "normal" numbers and nothing unusual (best bird a juvenile Stilt Sandpiper). 8/13/2 I was otherwise occupied tonight until 7pm, but didn't fear once I saw Jim Haw's report on INBIRD@envirolink: "Sandy Schacht, Marisa Windell, and I did the local mudlfat tour again today recording the usual 10 species of shorebirds (we're stuck on that total). The PIPING PLOVER was still present at Engle Road [Fort Wayne} this morning.. . . And the optics' reflected glare, the hats thrown in the air, Gave proof through the day that our plover was still there! Engle Road: Blue-winged Teal 3, Green-winged Teal 1, PIPING PLOVER 1, Killdeer, Lesser Yellowlegs 2, Solitary Sandpiper 1, Least Sandpiper 6 juv., Pectoral Sandpiper 17, Stilt Sandpiper 1 ad. .... The Thomas wetlands, Antwerp, Ohio, and the Paulding sewage ponds produced no additional species, though both had shorebirds. There were 3 ad. Stilt Sandpipers at Thomas and 1 ad and 1 juv. Stilt Sandpiper at Paulding. We're getting a lot of Stilts this fall." 8/15/2 About 8pm stopped by Paulding Sewage Lagoons North-- the workers were still there hauling out sludge but that didn't seem to scare the birds at all! Two ShortBilled Dowitchers and SIX Stilt Sandpipers were front and center for easy binocular viewing among the usual numbers of Pectoral/Semipalmated/Least/Solitary Sandpipers as well as Killdeer, Mallards, Semipalmated Plovers, Lesser Yellowlegs, a single Greater Yellowlegs, and the broken-winged Canada Goose. The South Lagoon had the better surprise, though: 3 Black Terns in full calico (I think that's the proper technical term) plumage <grin>" Well, I thought they were ShortBilled Dowitchers, but of course it WAS 8pm <bigger grin>! Doug Dunakin posted on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: "The Sewage Lagoons at Paulding is in the final weeks of dredging, which gives us just a few weeks to find birds before it is flooded again. Nevertheless, the birds continue to be present, mostly Pectorals, Killdeer and Lesser Yellowlegs, with Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, a few Solitary Sandpipers and a couple of Semipalmated Plovers, pretty much the same crowd that has been around for the past few weeks with one exception. As I was preparing to leave this afternoon around 2 p.m., I was drawn to three shorebirds calling loudly as they came in for a landing just a hundred feet or so away. They were Long-billed Dowitchers, the first we have seen in two years in the County. Perhaps this bodes well for the rest of the month?" So now I wonder if the pair I saw were perhaps the LongBills Doug had seen at 2pm?! Wish I'd checked more closely! 8/17/2 Took a count at Paulding's Sewage Lagoon today with little dog Bijou tagging along behind. At first glance, it seemed like numbers were down but that is probably because weeds are up! 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 5 Stilt Sandpipers, 5 ShortBilled Dowitchers (I checked thoroughly this time), 5 BlueWinged Teal, 7 Solitary Sandpipers, 9 Least Sandpipers, 11 Semipalmated Plovers, 12 Mallards, 29 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 52 Killdeer, 53 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 84 Pectoral Sandpipers. Got home to see that Jim Haw from Fort Wayne Stockbridge Audubon Society had been here as well. From INBIRD@envirolink: " The Paulding, Ohio, sewage ponds added Solitary Sandpiper (2) and Short-billed Dowitcher (5 juv.) to our species list. Also present were about 6 Stilt Sandpipers along with the more common species." 8/18/2 When I stopped at Paulding's Sewage Lagoons there was not a single shorebird in sight-- only 6 BlueWinged Teal and 4 Mallards! Then I saw the reason-- a NORTHERN HARRIER, scooping low over the swamp and landing on a high point in the weedy middle. Little by little, as if the Good Witch Glenda called out "Come out, come out wherever you are!" they began to emerge even though the Bad Witch Marsh Hawk was not dead or even gone. All the regulars, plus the Stilt Sandpipers, and the 5 Dowitchers from yesterday. The Nature Center had 2 BlueWinged Teal and a Green Heron. Stokely Ponds and Reservoir were empty. 8/19/2 About 5 o'clock I got a call from Micki Dunakin that there were 5 HUDSONIAN GODWITS at Paulding Sewage Lagoons. Usually I run over there about 7pm when i know the workers have left, but I rushed right over! Spent two hours looking for them, but they were very gone. Lots of other shorebirds, and 110 Canada Geese that Doug said weren't there earlier when he and Micki had seen the Godwits. Perhaps their arrival had frightened them away. Their report on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: " Greetings from the Black Swamp. A good afternoon at the Lagoons! Micki and I found 12 species of shorebirds (our best count this season), including five Hudsonian Godwits (only our second county record). Unfortunately, after watching them for about twenty minutes, we concentrated on finding other birds, and by the time we returned to the west side of the north lagoon, they were nowhere to be seen. John Yochum was unable to find them later this evening, so perhaps they have moved on. I will check again tomorrow morning and will report only if they are present. Other birds seen included 3 Stilt Sandpipers, 10 Long-billed Dowitchers, 3 Semipalmated Plovers and the usual pack of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted, Solitary, Pectorals and peeps (Least and Semipalmated). No Bairds yet! Well, we can only place our order and wait..." 8/20/2 I never made it over to Paulding, but John Perchalski of Van Wert OH did! He posted on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: "At 7 PM tonight I was visiting the Sewage Lagoons, which still have a fair number of shorebirds present. No sign of the godwits reported by Micki and Doug Dunakin yesterday, but there was a phalarope present with a needle bill, prominent black eye stripe, white face & anterior neck, and dark cap and back of neck, with a fair amount of patterning still on the wings and back. Otherwise there was not the diversity seen by the Dunakins, but still a few dowitchers, peeps and numerous pectorals and yellowlegs. --Jean & John Perchalski (jperch@im3.com) Van Wert, Ohio 8/21/2 At Paulding County's Sewage Lagoon North tonight I met John Perchalski in person, where although we studied the birds at length, only the usuals could be found in what appeared to be somewhat depressed numbers. 8/22/2 Paulding County Pond-by-the-Commissioner's-Woods tonight at 7:15 in the rain was strangely dark, but not dark enough I couldn't easily see the three BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS that were up front and center. Didn't even need to get out the scope. I excitedly called Micki and Doug to let them know, but lo they had already been here and seen them. They had also seen earlier a BlackBellied Plover there, but it was not there tonight when I visited. Best bird of the night for me, however, was a MOCKINGBIRD at Paulding Co Rd 176/105. Doug posted on Ohiobirds@Envirolink that he had also seen a WhiteRumped yesterday and today: "Well, the usual crowd of shorebirds at the Paulding Sewage Lagoons was enlivened today by a couple of new arrivals: a small group of three Baird's Sandpipers and a lone Black-bellied Plover. It is interesting that our Bairds show up just one day after a goodly number were spotted along the northern lake areas. In addition, we were able to find one White-rumped Sandpiper, a bird I had seen yesterday." 8/24/2 Darn it all. I'm missing them! This morning Doug Dunakin wrote on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: "Despite additional water in the north lagoon after recent rains, a goodly number of shorebirds remained this morning. Micki, Lach Ohman and I found thirteen species of shorebirds. In addition to the usual peeps and sandpipers, there were one White-rumped Sandpiper, one Stilt Sandpiper, six Short-billed Dowitchers ( all juveniles) and two Baird's. Joining up with Jim Haw and other visitors from Ft. Wayne, we also got another Stilt and one Western Sandpiper, the first we have seen this year. And a good time was had by all, I might add!" So I went over to the Paulding Sewage Lagoon (finding Terry and Karen from Fort Wayne) and counted 82 Pectoral Sandpipers, 57 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 36 Least Sandpipers, 19 Lesser Yellowlegs, 15 BlueWinged Teal, 11 Dowitchers, 7 Mallards, 5 Semipalmated Plovers, 4 Turkey Vultures, 4 Killdeer, 3 Solitary Sandpipers, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 2 Baird's Sandpipers, 1 Canada Goose, 1 Barn Swallow, 1 RoughWinged Swallow. We somehow missed the stilt , western, and whiterumped sandpipers. The Nature Center had a Green Heron. Stokely Ponds were empty. St Paul Cemetery Pond had 2 Great Blue Herons, a dozen or so Killdeer, 15 Mallards, and surprisingly enough, a GREAT EGRET accompanied by a Greater Yellowlegs. Thomas Marsh, which I haven't seen in quite some time, was extremely grown over, resulting in only 37 Canada Geese, 25 Mallards and 4 Killdeer. 8/25/2 At the Paulding Sewage Lagoon I found the birds I missed yesterday-- in one binocular view were 3 Stilt Sandpipers and 9 Dowitchers (the juveniles were definitely ShortBilled judging from their tertials). A WhiteRumped soared in, then suddenly out, then suddenly back, then suddenly in the whole time I was there. I must've looked at hundreds of thousands of peeps before I finally found the WESTERN SANDPIPER (near shore, in the middle of the south dike). Reservoir was empty. Nature Center Green Heron. That's about it. 8/28/2 Paulding Sewage Lagoons 44 Lesser Yellowlegs, 31 Least Sandpipers, 28 Dowitchers(!), 15 Killdeer, 13 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 10 Mallards, 8 BlueWinged Teal, 3 Pectoral Sandpipers, 3 Solitary Sandpipers, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 2 Stilt Sandpipers, 1 Canada Goose (with a badly broken deformed wing), 1 Semipalmated Plover. Black Swamp Nature Center 4 Blue Winged Teal and a Green Heron. Reservoir empty. St Paul's Cemetery Pond 1 GREAT EGRET still hanging around, 2 Great Blue Herons, 3 GREATER YELLOWLEGS (they look really huge alone!), 23 Mallards, 105 Canada Goose Stokely Ponds another GREAT EGRET! 8/29/2 Meanwhile Doug and Micki found warblers in Paulding County. From Ohiobirds@Enviorlink: "Micki encountered a nice flock of migrating warblers in northern Paulding County this morning. Included in the nine species seen were: Tennessee 1, Chestnut-sided 4 Magnolia 2, Blackburnian 5, Bay-breasted 1, Blackpoll 1, Black-and-White 12, Am. Redstart 2, Ovenbird 1" 9/1/2 Meanwhile, Jim Haw of Fort Wayne Stockbridge came over to Paulding Sewage Lagoons and reported on IN-BIRD-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU: "... 10 species of shorebirds, including 1 Stilt Sandpiper and 1Baird's Sandpiper."

9/2/2 Early morning at Paulding Sewage Lagoons: There was an invasion of BOBOLINKS (at least 100) today, but best bird was a single AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. Others there: a BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, the broken-winged Canada Goose, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 3 RingBilled Gulls, 4 Stilt Sandpipers, 7 Dowitchers, 8 Least Sandpiper, 9 Solitary Sandpipers, 10 Mallards, 12 Pectoral Sandpipers, 12 Semipalmated Plovers, 12 Blue Winged Teal, 16 Wood Ducks, 22 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 47 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 100 Killdeer (well, I counted 112).

Doug and Micki went there at another time and reported on OhioBirds@Envirolink: " The useful life (birding-wise) of the Paulding Sewage Lagoons may be numbered in mere days, but there are still a fair number of birds to be seen. Among the twelve species present for us today were 3 American Golden Plovers, 2 Baird's Sandpipers, 3 Stilt Sandpipers, 6 Short-billed Dowitchers, and the first Common Snipe of the season for us. Duckwise, the same species have been present for some time at the lagoons: Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal, Wood Duck and Mallards. A nice flock of about 20 Bobolinks dropped in just before we left. Elsewhere, we picked up several (total of 24) Am. Golden Plovers in worked-up fields near Paulding and a lone Upland Sandpiper, who flew in to join the Plovers in one of those fields. The Paulding Reservoir attracted a solitary Caspian Tern. All in all, it was a good day with signs of movement, as evidenced by the sudden influx of Golden Plovers and the Caspian Tern." 9/3/2 Fort Wayne's Stockbridge Audubon Society was well-represented this morning in Paulding County. Jim Haw on Ohiobirds@Envirolink: " Sandy, Marisa, and I checked the area shorebird spots this morning. Nothing exotic but we had 11 species at the Paulding sewage ponds, including 2 Baird's Sandpipers. Elsewhere, there were 2 Am. Golden Plovers in a recently plowed field on the west side of CR 87 (less than a mile, I think) north of hwy 111, and a Black Tern at the Thomas wetland, over the wetland just north of the ditch on 61." 9/9/2 I fully intended to count shorebirds at Paulding Sewage Lagoons, but the workers were still there the whole time and became quite distracting with a bit of movement from the birds. The best bird was definitely a COMMON SNIPE (Doug and Micki saw one a week ago here), but these are my impressions of what birds were there: 1 Baird's, 1 Stilt, 1 Soitary, 2 BlueWinged Teal, 2 Rock Doves, 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 7 Mallards, 8 Least, 8 Semipalmated Plover, 12 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 25 Lesser Yellowlegs, 32 Pectoral Sandpipers, 125 Killdeer. I could hear the Bobolinks still in the field, but didn't see a one. 9/19/2 Paulding County Sewage Lagoon North looked and sounded like a war zone, with a loud bulldozer razing the entire surface. I counted 1 Solitary Sandpiper, a Rock Dove, 3 Mallards, 6 Lesser Yellowlegs and 38 Killdeer, though, that must have been deaf. Jim Haw and Sandy Schacht were over from Fort Wayne earlier todaym and reported on InBird: "The Paulding, Ohio, sewage ponds are not as good now as they were earlier in the fall. The work that drained one pond is almost completed, habitat is not too good, few shorebirds were present, and the pond will probably be refilled shortly. While eating lunch at Paulding Reservoir and on the way to the sewage ponds, though, we saw 9 Broad-winged Hawks and 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk go over, a pallid reflection of the big Broad-winged wave detected in the Toledo area yesterday afternoon and this morning." Stokely Ponds had 117 Mallards, 1 Great Blue Heron and 2 Rock Doves. Black Swamp Nature Center also had changed dramatically, with the cattails on the Cattail Pond all cut down, making the 8 Mallards and 3 Green Herons easily visible. My dog Bijou and I walked around the Stick Pond but the best we could find was a Carolina Wren. Then the big thunderstorm hit so we could only head home. 9/21/2 Stokely Ponds had 4 Wood Ducks and a BlueWinged Teal. St Paul's Cemetery Pond had a Greater Yellowlegs with 3 Great Blue Herons and lots of Killdeer. Thomas Marsh 10 Mallards and 6 Lesser Yellowlegs were all I could see against the sun. The Reservoir was empty. The Black Swamp Nature Center had one Great Blue Heron. Paulding Sewage Lagoon was calm, and therefore busy, tonight. I tried to take a quick count and had a WILSON'S PHALAROPE in full basic plumage, a Dowitcher, 3 Stilt Sandpipers, 4 COMMON SNIPE, 4 Semipalmated Plovers, 4 Least Sandpiper, 5 Canada Geese, 12 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 15 BlueWinged Teal, 22 Pectoral Sandpipers, 48 Lesser Yellowlegs, 60 Killdeer, and before I could get far enough back to really identify them, what appeared to be about 100 Dunlin took flight at the very back of the lagoon. 9/22/2 Micki and Doug Dunakin on Ohio-Birds report from Paulding County: " A modest flock or two of warblers, with 6 species total for the day; Tennessee, Magnolia, Am. Redstart, Bay-breasted, C. Yellowthroat and Ovenbird. A sudden arrival of ducks at the Paulding Reservoir, including a small flotilla of Ruddies, 4 Am. Wigeon and 2 Redheads (early arrivals, those Redheads), all watched over by an imperious-looking Cormorant. An unexpected boon: an Olive-sided Flycatcher perched atop a bare branch along our little creek." 9/25/2 Antwerp, PauldingCo OH's Micki & Doug Dunakin on OhioBirds@Envirolink: " Warbler numbers weren't big on our property today (a mere four species), but Micki found one of the best: our first Connecticut of the year! This is only her second fall sighting in our woods and a late one at that." 9/28/2 With the new baby, family reunions, preparing the house for winter etc ad infinitum, I personally haven't been able to bird too much, so I live through Micki & Doug's posts to OhioBirds@Envirolink: " A fairly nice day brought some surprises to faroff Paulding County. In the morning, Micki found 9 to 10 GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS and a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, both new species for the fall. An OSPREY showed off his fishing skills for us at the Paulding Reservoir. A walk around the Black Swamp Nature Center (across the creek from the Reservoir) brought us a few species of warblers, among which was our first fall YELLOW-RUMPED. Altogether we saw six species of warblers for the day, very modest numbers indeed. Incidentally, there is still some habitat left at the Paulding Sewage Lagoons, but the dredging work there has ended, and the north lagoon will perhaps be refilled shortly. We only saw four species today (lots of L. Yellowlegs, a good number of Pectorals, one Least Sandpiper and many Killdeer, but that's a lot more than we would have seen if the lagoon had been filled. And Thursday, I saw a Sora there, a most unusual find at a sewage treatment pond, so perhaps just about anything can show up." 10/1/2 Paulding Sewage Lagoons had many birds, but it was just too late when I arrived to count: lots of Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, Killdeer, 8 Wood Ducks, and a single American Black Duck, among others. 10/2/2 Paulding Sewage Lagoons A goodly number of shorebirds were still present, along with the Black Duck and the more usual Canada Geese, Mallards, and Wood Ducks. Roger and Pat had arrived some time before me, and happily pointed out a COMMON SNIPE front and center. They had seen several there before my arrival. St Paul's Cemetery Pond had three Canada Geese and a Great Blue Heron. The western shore (looking into the sun) had shorebirds, but they appeared to be only lots of Killdeer and 3 Greater Yellowlegs. The Reservoir, Stokely Ponds, and Black Swamp Nature Center were empty. 10/3/2 I didn't have time to sort through all of them, but the Dunakins (ten miles away) also had warblers today, reported on OhioBirds@Envirolink: " Micki had a great day in one of our nearby woods, with a lot of songbirds present, including Barred Owl (not a songbird, but hooting nonetheless) Yellow-billed Cuckoo (okay, so this isn't much of a songster, either) Golden and Ruby-crowned Kinglets Grey-cheeked Thrush Tennessee, Nashville, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, & Black-and-White Warblers Am. Redstart Northern Waterthrush (our first October record) Com. Yellowthroat Rose-breasted Grosbeak Not incredible numbers, but this was her best day this fall!! (Says something about this migration, doesn't it?)I heard a noise like rain and wind outside, but seeing nothing, I returnedto my reading. A few minutes later, Micki came in and started raving about thousands of grackles... And so there were, thousands of 'em, sitting in trees in our neighborhood, making the kind of racket that only large flocks of birds are capable of making. Quite a sight, and more impressive yet, quite a sound!" 10/13/2 Pam and I toured Paulding County this morning, and I was shocked to find the Sewage Lagoon had gone from shorebird sanctuary to duck lake: 8 Ruddy Ducks, Northern Shoveler, BlueWinged Teal, Gadwall, Mallard! If we omit common summer birds, hundreds of Canada Geese and hundreds of Mallards, the rest of the tour was rather dull: grey male Harrier at Stokely Ponds; 8 Greater Yellowlegs, a Lesser Yellowlegs, and a pair of GreenWinged Teal at St Paul's Cemetery Pond; a walk around the Black Swamp Nature Center's Stick Pond resulted in only a single RubyCrowned Kinglet and a Kingfisher, with the usual WhiteCrowned/Throated Sparrows! Bruce and I went to WilliamsCo Rd 16/C: Plenty of shorebird habitat but just hundreds of Canada Geese and Killdeer and Starlings! 10/17/2 Doug & Micki Dunakin report on Ohio-Birds@Envirolink: "The old nip in the air seems to have brought a few things into our [Paulding] county. We got our first Junco today (rather later than usual), there were two Dunlins at the Thomas wetlands, and a trio of SURF SCOTERS graced the Paulding Reservoir. " 10/21/2 From Ohiobirds@Envirolink: " I forgot to report our first Lapland Longspurs of the season Monday morning. Micki heard 'em flying over the house in the crisp morning air." Doug Dunakin, Antwerp OH 11/2/2 Ah, the luxury of a sunny Saturday to explore Paulding County. Alas, it's duck season. Nothing at Stokely Ponds, Reservoir, Commissioner's Ponds (except for AMERICAN PIPITS, perhaps 50), and only 2 Dunlin and 3 Bonaparte's Gulls at St Paul Cemetery Pond. Ran into Micki and Doug, who told me this pond is called Cozier's Pond, or something similar.11/7/2Paulding County Stokely Ponds, Reservoir, Black Swamp Nature Center: Nothing. 11/11/2 Paulding Tour found nothing at the Reservoir, Stokely Ponds, Commissioner's Ponds, Black Swamp Nature Center. St Paul Cemetery Pond did have about 2 Greater Yellowlegs among about a dozen Lesser Yellowlegs and Killdeer. Thomas Wetlands held a Coot, lots of Mallards, and hard-to-see Yellowlegs that were easy to hear from the road. Two Pectoral Sandpipers were also barely visible through the tall grass. While watching Pipits, Larks, and Snow Buntings mix near the Airport , a white bird (not a gull) flew a wide circle around me, always between a half-mile to a mile away, always flapping, never soaring or gliding. It could've been a dove, looking large against the stormy steel grey-blue sky. Or maybe, just maybe, I'm trying to find the silver lining in the upcoming winter, thinking snowy owl...Brrr, it was cold today. 20013/1/01 Hadn't been to Paulding for quite some time, so took the trip, counting 7 Harriers on the PauldingCoLnRd from Krouse Rd. The ponds are all still half frozen, if not more, but still there were 2 RingNecked Ducks and 2 Coots with under 50 Canada Geese at Stokely Ponds, and only Geese (under 50) at Commissioner's Ponds, a barren Reservoir, and under 50 Canadas at the Nature Center. Numerous singing Robins were there, also (I haven't heard the Oxbow Lake robins singing yet). 3/11/01 Paulding Reservoir held 79 Scaup/Ringnecks (again about evenly divided), 2 Killdeer, 2 Ruddy Ducks, 2 Mallards, a Wigeon, a maleRedBreasted Merganser, a Horned Grebe, and a Black Duck. Stokely Ponds held a male Hooded Merganser, Canvasback Ducks (5pr),Redhead Ducks (10pr?), Ringneck Ducks (100?), Scaup (100?), Bufflehead (4pr?), Mallards (2pr), Canada Geese (3 pair), 3 pair of Coots. These are very small ponds and I didn't want to disturb the waterfowl so I didn't count real well so I could leave in a hurry. Commissioner's Ponds had 109 Scaup/Ringnecks (about evenly divided), 7 Northern Shovelers (I didn't see any females), 3 Ruddy Ducks, 2 GreenWinged Teal drakes, a pair of Wood Ducks, 1 Bufflehead drake and about 50 Canada Geese. The Nature Center had a pair of Mallards and a pair of Canada Geese. Nearer home (Sherwood) I saw my first Meadowlarks of Defiance County, some late Longspurs in Paulding County, and Robins everywhere. 3/13/01Paulding Reservoir, Stokely Ponds, and Commissioner'sPonds had high numbers of waterfowl similar to 3/11. Black Swamp Nature Center had one male and 3 female Northern Shovelers at very close viewing range. 3/15/01Stokely Ponds had similar birds as 3/11, but the hundreds of birds at the Reservoir and Commissioner's Ponds were most all in the air due to fishermen and walkers-by. Doug & Micki D. report 16 Horned Grebes from the Reservoir earlier, however. Nature Center had a Great Blue Heron, 2 Coots, and a Horned Grebe. The only sparrows I saw were all Song Sparrows. Female Robins were there in abundance, too, now. A dead juvenile Cooper's Hawk was in front of Paulding's Lafarge Corporation. 3/18/01 Paulding Reservoir was empty except for 2 Coots, the Nature Center had 6 Canada Geese, while Stokely Ponds had 125 Lesser Scaup, 30 Ringnecked Ducks, 16 Redhead Ducks, 12 Canada Geese, 6 Ruddy Ducks, 3 Bufflehead, 2 Canvasbacks, and a Coot (more or less). Commissioner's Ponds held a raft of 200 Ducks, pretty evenly divided between Lesser Scaup, Ringnecked Ducks and Redheads. There were also 2 GreenWinged Teal and 2 Canvasbacks and about 30 Canada Geese.3/24/01 Paulding Reservoir 14 Horned Grebes, 3 RedBreasted Mergansers, a Pied Billed Grebe, and 5 Lesser Scaup. Commissioner's Ponds 100 Scaup, 50 Canada Geese, and a Horned Grebe Stokely Ponds 20 Canada Geese, 20 Lesser Scaup, 20 RingNecked Ducks, 6 Ruddy Ducks, 5 Coots, 1 Gadwall Nature Center Volunteers picked an icy-cold windy day to work. 3/29/01 Stokely Ponds had 14 Ruddy Ducks, 12 Lesser Scaup, 8 Bufflehead, 8 Canada Geese and a Coot. Paulding Reservoir had about 75 Lesser Scaup, 25 RingNecked DUcks, 8 Coots, and 6 Ruddy Ducks. Nature Center had a beautiful blue merle Australian Shepherd running with his master. Commissioner's Pond had 30 Canada Geese, 14 Lesser Scaup, 8 Mallards, 2 Ringnecked Ducks, 2 Green Winged Teal and a Black Duck. Doug & Micki Dunakin from Ohiobirds@Envirolink: "This was one of those days when the birds just turn up unexpectedly at every turn- Micki picked up our first Field Sparrow of the season and managed to flush five Am. Woodcocks during her morning walk. Our first Chipping Sparrow showed up in the back yard, along with an Eastern Phoebe on our clothesline. Add to this a brief appearance of two Northern Bobwhite in the yard (birds we had feared had been eaten by predators) and the first Common Snipe at the Thomas wetlands on County Road 176, and you have the makings of a fine early Spring day!!"

4/4/01Paulding's Black Swamp Nature Center had YellowRumped Warblers, 2 Coots and a Kingfisher. Reservoir: 8 Shovelers, 8 Bufflehead, 16 Ringneck Ducks, 2 Lesser Scaup. Stokely Ponds 10 Ruddy Ducks, 8 RingNecked Ducks, 6 Mallards, 6 Shovelers, 5 Scaups, 4 Coots and 3 GreenWinged Teal. Oh, and of course, Canada Geese. Commissioner's Ponds had nothing but 50 Canada Geese.4/19/01 Paulding's Black Swamp Nature Center was pure heaven tonight. It had been the first actual walk i'd had time to take in some time, and what a walk. My dog, Bijou, and I turned up the first Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Wood Thrush, Winter Wren and several Hermit Thrushes of the season. Absolutely best was a liesurely side-by-side comparison of a Swamp and a Lincoln's Sparrow! Also nice were the White-Throated and White-Crowned Sparrows. Easily taken for granted would have been the Flickers, the Kingfisher, Bluebirds, BlueWinged Teal and YellowRumped Warblers, but the evening was just too beautiful to pass by anything without appreciation. The Reservoir had 25 Ruddy Ducks, and a Canada Goose. Stokely's Ponds 18 Coot, 16 Scaup, 11 Bufflehead, 2 RingNecked Ducks, 8 Bufflehead, 8 Canada Geese, and a PiedBilled Grebe. Commissioner's Ponds had about 50 Lesser Scaup, 50 Ruddy Ducks, 50 BlueWinged Teal, 25 Canada Geese, 10 Wood Ducks, 10 Coots, 6 Mallards, and 4 RingNecked Ducks. The count wasn't real accurate because I didn't leave much time after my walk!4/21/01Pam Adams reports an AMERICAN BITTERN on her Paulding/DefianceCo Line farm! 4/22/01 Pam Adam's Farm on the Paulding/DefianceCounty Line Rd was the source of excitement today. A small flock (25?) of GOLDEN PLOVERS flew up as I pulled into the driveway, portending good things to come. Tie for best birds of the day: AMERICAN BITTERN because it's the first one I've seen in Ohio, and PINE WARBLER because it's the first migratory warbler of the season for me, because it gave such first rate viewing for as long as we wanted to view it (in fact, I swear it kept following us along), and because it sang continually! Other standouts in my mind are Eastern Phoebe, Palm Warbler, SAVANNAH SPARROWS, RubyCrowned Kinglets, Swamp Sparrows, Wood Thrush, Flickers, RedHeaded & RedBellied Woodpeckers, and the Marsh Marigolds, Jack-In-the-Pulpits, Wood Sorrel, and a virtual carpet of Spring Beauty. Oh, and Red Admirals and Painted Ladies! And, as Pam reminded me, I didn't have to drive 400 miles to see them : ) 4/26/01 Paulding Stokely Ponds where there were 4 Coots, 4 Mallards and 4 Canada Geese. Black Swamp Nature Center had 2 out of 4 sets of Canada Geese with goslings, 4 each, and hordes of YellowRumped Warblers, BlueGray Gnatcatchers, Yellow Warblers, and a RedEyed Vireo (my first of the season), a Catbird and Brown Thrashers. Outstanding plants: Early Meadow Rue and a new plant: Pussytoes. 5/6/01 A kind invitation by the Dunakins to their home 10 miles away at Antwerp at 6am resulted in nice viewing of a KIRTLAND'S WARBLER. Found at 6:40, we watched the bird until 8:40am, after he finished his bath in a small creek. Some quick Snappy photos from the video I took (really the video looks great, but i'm not able to work this program real well i guess...):

In their yard was also my first Magnolia Warbler of the season. Paulding Nature Center had a Great Egret and an Osprey visiting. Stokely Ponds and Commissioner's Ponds both had my first Bobolinks of the season. 6/7/2001 Thursday. A hot tip from the Dunakins took me to the Forrest Farm, near Forder's Cemetery, Antwerp Paulding County, OH, (about 6miles away). I heard Cedar Waxwings (close, but no cigar), saw Common Yellowthroats (interesting, but no cigar), and was about to give up when what to my wondering eyes should appear but: GRASSHOPPER sparrows! I took the video camera, but alas, no videotape! <grin> 6/17/2001 A tour of the Paulding area found only the commonest of birds (Indigo Buntings, Mallards, Canada Geese, Brown Thrashers, Orioles etc) but a stop out at "the farm" (near the US 24/US 127 corner) to pick up mulch for the yard in town yielded Dickcissels, which nest there every year. 7/8/2001Also got a chance to see the LESSER SCAUP reported by the Dunakins at the Paulding Commissioner's Ponds. There were 106 Canada Geese at the Paulding Reservoir. Only mostly Cedar Waxwings and Tree Swallows elsewhere. 7/15/2001 Paulding Commissioner's Pond nearest the woods is drying up, and has attracted a mixed group of about 25 LEAST, PECTORAL and SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS. On the sides amidst the rocks were SPOTTED (many with spots still), and SOLITARY SANDPIPERS. Many cowbirds also ate from the mud. Thanks, Pam, for the tip! It was about 8pm when I left home so the sun was low and a Wood Thrush serenaded me the whole time from the Commissioner's Woods. 7/16/2001 Same sandpipers, but a Great Crested Flycatcher was the serenader, this time about 4:30pm, at Paulding Commissioner's Ponds. 7/17/2001 Same sandpipers, but plaintive pee-a-wee entertained at Paulding Commissioner's Pond about 7pm. 7/22/2001 Sandpipers have been the "same five" (Least, Pectoral, Semipalmated, Solitary, Spotted) until returning from Michigan today i found a single Short-billed Dowitcher and a single Lesser Yellowlegs. the other Paulding Commissioner's Pond had lots of Wood Ducks (25+), Mallards (10+), Canada Geese (30+), as well as the Scaup, still there. Serenading were Wood Thrush and Dickcissel. 7/24/2001 Omigosh. Paulding Commissioner's Pond (South) was again a repository of sandpiper delight: the usual five, no dowitcher, but even more Lesser Yellowlegs, joined by about a half-dozen Greater Yellowlegs, and even better, a group of SANDERLINGS and another group of SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS. How could this be beat on a hot summer day? THREE AMERICAN AVOCETS

7/26/2001 Paulding Commissioner's Pond cooled down a bit with Semipalmated Plovers and Sandpipers, Pectoral and Least Sandpipers, and of course there are always so many Killdeer it's hard to tell if their migratory or not. About 25 each of Wood Ducks and Mallards at Black Swamp. Reservoir was empty (well, tree swallows). 7/28/2001 Paulding Commissioner's Pond South had Semipalmated Plover and Sandpipers, Pectoral and Least Sandpipers, Killdeer and a single WhiteRumped Sandpiper. North had Wood Ducks and Mallards mostly, but also a few Canada Geese, 2 Spotted Sandpipers and a RUDDY DUCK hen. 7/29/2001Semipalmated Plover and Sandpipers, Pectoral, Spotted, WhiteRumped and Least Sandpipers continue at Paulding Commissioner's Pond South. 8/6/2001 Sandpipers are the same at Commissioner's Pond (no yellowlegs, no dowitchers etc) for the past few days. There was a juvenile RedHeaded Woodpecker at the Commissioner's Woods, though. 8/7/2001 Same sandpipers, looked for the Upland Sandpipers that Doug Dunakin reported at the airport and failed, but did see a Great Horned Owl. 8/17/2001 Wow! can't believe I forgot to post my birding experiences for this long! UPDATE: The Reservoir's lone DoubleCrested Cormorant has been there for a few days, the Black Swamp Nature Center (Paulding) always has Green Herons (from 2 to 4), Pam Adams reports warblers (Black&Whites) in her PauldingCoLineRd backyard already. This would normally be the best it would get around here in the summer but the drained Commissioner Pond South has been providing entertainment, with Semipalmated, Least, Solitary, Spotted, Pectoral Sandpipers and SemiPalmated Plovers and Killdeer almost always there. Common visitors have been both Yellowlegs. Occasional have been WhiteRumped, Baird's, Stilt Sandpipers, ShortBilled Dowitcher, Sanderling and Ame rican Avocet. Doug saw upland sandpipers, and rednecked phalarope but I missed them :( 8/18/2001 Just the usual in Paulding. 8/19/2001 Went at 9am to the Commissioner's Pond-- nothing unusual. But Dunakins saw Baird's there at 1, and Jim Haw saw a black tern there later!!!! 8/20/2001 Received a call from Dunakins about a RedNecked Phalarope at the Commissioner's Pond, but it was gone by the time I got there. Just the usuals there, but Doug pointed out Northern Shovelers and both Teal hiding in the north pond. A male Harrier was nearby. 8/21/2001 Headed out to the Commissioner's Pond immediately after work and found a RED-NECKED PHALAROPE and an AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. Doug Dunakin pulled up a few minutes later, and we watched them for some time. 8/22/2001 Phalarope continues at Commissioner's Pond with Lesser Scaup and Shovelers on the North Pond, and the Cormorant continues at the Reservoir. Male Harrier on Emerald Road continues, as well. 8/23/2001 Juvenile Sanderlings and Stilt with the RedNecked Phalarope at the Commissioner's Pond. Only Swallows and Mallards on the Reservoir.8/25/2001 The usual were at the Commissioner's Pond South; Commissioner's Pond North held the usual 2 Northern Shovelers, 10+ Mallards, and a Pied Billed Grebe. At the Reservoir were a hundred Cliff Swallows, but I didn't get to watch them too long before 4 Crows decided that yes, indeed, my scope was actually a gun. The Cliff Swallows, 300+ Starlings, and all the other birds in the vicinity were gone in a poof, leaving only the usual Mallards and Tree Swallows, the Reservoir reverting to its usual appearance. Stokely Ponds were barren of all but swallows and swifts. A slow walk along the paths of the Black Swamp Nature Center revealed no warblers, mere majestic natural beauty. 8/26/2001 Commissioner's Pond had usuals today, including a Bairds and Lesser Yellowlegs (1 ad., 2 juv.). Reservoir was host again to Cliff Swallows, this time over 500! Most had accumulated on a very old roof of a barn opposite the entrance, where they pecked each other to maintain what was evidently their unique spot. Yesterday, sometime after I left at 9:30am, Jim WIllet reported seeing a black tern , but again today it was absent.

8/27/2001 Nothing new in Paulding at any of the spots. Walked the trails looking in vain for warblers. The usual Green Herons were the high point of Nature Center. 8/30/2001 Finally found a group of warblers at the BlueJay/Stick Trail at Black Swamp Nature Center: Magnolia Warblers mostly, with a Wilson's and an OrangeCrowned thrown in, amidst a lot of Robins and Flickers at the only water left in the dry creek bed. 8/31/2001 Only unusual birds were Am Golden Plover at Commissioner's Pond, Wood Thrush on the trails of Black Swamp Nature Center, and a Wild Turkey at the bridge south of Sherwood on US 127. 9/2/2001 Nothing new amidst the hundreds at the Commissioner's Ponds except lots of duck hunters. Black Swamp Nature Center had tons of warblers today: Cape May Warbler, BlackThroated Blue, BlackThroated Green, Magnolia, Swainson's Thrush, Red Eyed & Warbling Vireo, Redstarts, BlueGray Gnatcatcher, Least Flycatcher were in the throng. 9/4/2001 3 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS at Paulding Commissioner's Pond. Thanks, Jim Haw and Doug Dunakin! 9/5/2001 Not much-- workers at the Commissioner's Ponds actively working at 6pm, keeping most birds at bay. Lots of duck hunters setting out decoys for what few ducks and geese we do get... 9/6/2001Paulding was birdless everywhere except for Kingfisher at the Reservoir and a Kingfisher at the Nature Center. 9/9/2001 The BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER continues with his cohorts at the South Commissioner's Pond in Paulding, while an EARED GREBE was in the North! 9/15/2001 Paulding Commissioner's Pond South is still occupied by sandpipers and peeps, the most common being Pectoral Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs. Pam reports from her Paulding/DefianceCo Line farm a Wilson's, a Redstart, an Ovenbird, and a Magnolia warbler. 9/22/2001 Doug and Micki reported another Avocet at the Paudling Commissioner's Ponds. 9/29/2001 Have been neglecting Paulding lately, so took the tour this morning forgetting the sun would be in my eyes! Commissioner's Ponds had only 18 Mallards, 10 PecsNPalms type sandpipers, and only about 50 Killdeer. These numbers are way way way down. About 150 Chimney Swifts appeared and then left immediately. While it appeared earlier that work would begin on the North pond, nothing apparent has been done there. The Reservoir was bare. Black Swamp Nature Center's only highlight was a Kingfisher...no warblers at all! 9/30/2001 Went to Pam's PauldingCoLine farm today. New birds were YellowRumped Warbler and WhiteThroated Sparrows, but there were plenty of Song Sparrows (singing a muted quiet version of their song) and a Field Sparrow still hanging around. Also RubyCrowned Kinglet, Bluebirds, Waxwings, Goldfinches, Indigo Bunting, RedHeaded/Downy/RedBellied Woodpecker etc but short on migrating warblers.10/2/2001 It was almost 7pm before I got started, but Paulding Commissioner's Pond South was full of Killdeer! I could only find 5 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 Least, and a Lesser Yellowlegs... AND TWO WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPERS! At one point about 50 Killdeer flew up at once and disappeared over the woods. The ordinary suddenly looked extraordinary. Exactly 25 Canada Geese and 4 Mallards were there, too. At the Reservoir were 48 Canada Geese, 3 Coots and hundreds of people! The Nature Center had RedWinged Blackbirds and a bat flying circles over the Cattail Pond. A single Nighthawk flew over, headed south. 10/3/2001Paulding Commissioner's Pond South had the usuals while North, Reservoir, and Nature Center had zilch, zilch, and zilch. 10/7/2001 Paulding's Commissioner's Pond North had only a Lesser Scaup, while the South one had no birds at all!!! Nature Center had over 100 Killdeer though (it usually has very few if any), so maybe they were frightened by activity. Black Swamp Nature Center also had lots of YellowRumped Warblers and WhiteCrowned Sparrows, too. Stokely Ponds were empty, just Mourning Doves, Savannah Sparrows and Meadowlarks hanging around. Reservoir had 3 Bonaparte's Gulls, and 1 Ruddy Duck. 10/8/2001 Not much had changed at Paulding, unless it was MORE YellowRumped Warblers and RubyCrowned Kinglets, if that's possible. Reservoir had only 2 Bonapartes. 10/9/2001Micki and Doug report: "Once again, the Paulding Sewage Lagoons continued to pay dividends with L. Yellowlegs and Solitary, Pectoral and Baird's Sandpipers mixed in with the ubiquitous Killdeer. A lone Osprey circled a nearby pond." 10/14/2001 Paulding Reservoir zilch. Commissioner's Ponds North zilch. South zilch, except for 2 kestrels, one of which seemed to have a wing hurt in such a way to make it fly poorly, but yet in such a way he would be impossible to catch. the other seemed very sympathetic to his plight. Nature Center every warbler i looked at was YellowRumped and every sparrow White-Throated.10/20/2001 I went to Paulding today to inspect the cattle egrets that Doug saw yesterday: "Well, just when you least expect it, birds have a habit of surprising even those of us who have followed them for many years!! While inspecting flood levels on Flat Rock Creek about three miles west of Paulding, my fellow worker and I noticed a group of white things at the edge of a flooded field. A quick look through the always-handy binocs revealed that those "white things" were in reality Cattle Egrets, and not just two or three, but 26 of the little beauties!!! This would have to qualify as a major wader event in our area, as we are lucky to see more than three or four Common Egrets during the course of a typical year. In fact, this is only our second sighting of Cattle Egrets in the county!... The birds were about 500 feet west of County Road 87, about 1/4 mile or so south of State Route 500. If you're not familiar with that area, just go west on S.R. 111 out of Paulding about two miles or so to County Road 87; turn left (south) and drive until you pass S.R. 500 and Flat Rock Creek. The birds were in a flooded field on the right (west)." but they had already left. Stokely Ponds had Bluebirds, but nothing else; Commissioner's Ponds had Killdeer, but nothing else. Sherwood Lagoons had 30 Canada Geese and Killdeer, but nothing else. Nature Center had a Boxer and an Australian Shepherd , but nothing else. Paulding Reservoir had only four

By the time I returned with 35mm equipment, they were gone. I saw Micki and Doug at the Commissioner's Ponds, and thankfully they had already seen them-- it had been five years since they'd been seen in Paulding County, when Pam found one on the same reservoir! 10/22/2001 Pam's Defiance/PauldingCoLn Farm has hosted a mockingbird the last couple days, so I rushed over when she called to say, "It's back," but in the 4 miles it took to get there it was gone. Mockingbirds are relatively uncommon here, although I am aware of some that breed in Defiance County. 10/25/01 Dunakins report the first PINE SISKIN at their Antwerp OH feeder.10/26/2001 Dunakins report SNOW GEESE in a flooded field outside of Antwerp today, "...a small wetland established recently (oops), is located at the southwest corner of County Road 175 and Township Road 61, about 1.5 to 2 miles east of Antwerp. We went by there today and found Mallards, Gadwall and several Green-wing Teal. " 10/28/2001 Paulding Commissioner's Pond North had only 150 Canada Geese, while out of the South one flew two Harriers at my approach, leaving only rigidly immobile small flocks of Killdeer. As for the Paulding Reservoir, Dunakins had reported: "We happened upon a most strange creature at the Paulding Reservoir late this afternoon, a duck that looked like a cross between an American Wigeon and a Long-tailed Duck. Several scans of our world waterfowl guide brought us no closer to a solution as to its identity. The bill, head shape and body plumage resembled a Wigeon, whereas the head markings brought the Long-tailed to mind. Possibly just a weird-looking Wigeon, you say, but aha! this bird was a diver, whose strong flipping motion at the moment of the dive brought to mind the behavior of a scoter. Since obscure waterfowl have never been a specialty in these largely waterless parts, we are open to suggestions. We are assuming that the bird is a hybrid, but of just what and what??? Any help here will be greatly appreciated. All was not frustration, however, as we got our first Common Goldeneye of the year, a dandy drake indeed!" By the time I arrived at the Reservoir, however, there were only a pair of Lesser Scaup and Horned Grebe. A hunter had lots of decoys (duck and geese) set up and he was stalking nearby but maybe he was just waiting for me to leave before he shot. A block behind us, at the Nature Center, 36 Canadas clogged the Cattail Pond, evidently on to the hunter. The perfectly good Stokely Ponds had nothing but a pair of Harriers, one a grey male.10/29/2001 The big news is from the Dunakins: "In addition to a number of C. Geese, Mallards and Green-winged Teal, we found six Greater White-fronted Geese just milling about with the Canadas as though they belonged out there!! This marks only our third sighting of this species in the last sixteen years. For those interested, the 25+ acre wetland is located at the southwest corner of County Road 176 and Township Road 61 (Delorme P. 34, C-2) about 2.5 miles east of the quaint village of Antwerp, Ohio."11/2/01Rushed to see the new wetlands discovered by Doug D. at Paulding County 61/176. This is a site NOT to be viewed at sunset as the sun is always in one's eyes at sunset. I could make out lots of Mallards and Canada Geese and GreenWinged Teal, as well as the constant sound of Greater Yellowlegs, although I only saw three of them. The other new marsh (95/114) held nothing, as did the Reservoir (107). The Nature Center (107/132) only had huge flocks of RedWinged Blackbirds, while Stokely Ponds (up 107 a little further) had only a pair of Mallards. Commissioner's Ponds (154/119) were also empty. 11/4/01 I checked Paulding Co 176/61 Marsh (only a few Mallards, Canada Geese, small flocks of Cowbirds and House Sparrows), 95/114, Nature Center and Paulding Reservoir (zilch, zilch, and zilch).11/19/2001 Toured Paulding looking to see what birds followed me home from the north. Today's reading will therefore be from the book of Genesis, Chapter One, and Verse Two: "And the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep..." Here the prophet Moses refers to Paulding County birding today. Barren were both Commissioner's Ponds, all Stokley Ponds, the Reservoir, the Stick Pond and the Cattail Pond at the Nature Center, and St Paul's Cemetery pond (95/114). The Saving Coup came at the New Marsh (61/176) where there were 250 Mallards, 25 GreenWinged Teal, and a single Dunlin. Not quite Whitefish Point. Of course, the excitement at the point had seemed to center around Cardinals, a Grackle, and a plain Cedar Waxwing. Micki and Doug saw 7 tundra swans today on the Reservoir today. 11/28/2001 But that was better than nothing, which was exactly what was at Paulding's Stokely Ponds, Commissioner's Ponds, and St Paul's Pond. The Reservoir held two Ruddy Ducks and a singing Carolina Wren, the 61/179 New Marsh had 100 Mallards visible, Black Swamp Nature Center's Cattail Marsh had a female Ruddy Duck so close you could see the line on her cheek with your bare eye. That's all folks, cuz then it was dark again, at 5pm! 12/2/2001 Took advantage of the sun and the 50-degree temperatures to put up the outside Christmas lights, as well as check Paulding's Reservoir, Stokely Ponds, St Paul's Pond, and Black Swamp Nature Center, but they were all birdless. Two Dunlin had the whole swampy, muddy mess called the Commissioner's Pond South to themselves, while at the 61/179 Marsh at least 200 Canada Geese and 500 Mallards were visible. 12/9/2001 Paulding County's Commissioner's Ponds were empty, but there were 2 female Lesser Scaup at Stokely Ponds, 14 gulls silhouetted by the morning sun on the Reservoir, 14 Killdeer and a Kingfisher still hanging around at the Black Swamp Nature Center, while St Paul's Cemetery Pond had about 100 Canada Geese and 20 Mallards. Remarkably, the only waterfowl at the New Marsh at 61/179 was a hen Mallard. There were also Snow Buntings mixed in with the Larks, a pure white cat, and a longhaired dachshund though. <grin> A private home on US 127 just outside of Paulding had more birds than all these places put together in their backyard around their pond-- at least 200 long-necked and short-necked Canada Geese. Cedar Waxwings, Bluebirds, Goldfinches, RedWinged Blackbirds, Kestrels, Harriers, RedTailed Hawks etc were out in abundance as well everywhere. 12/9/2001Pam A. reports a juvenile WhiteThroated Sparrow at her Paulding/DefianceCo Line feeder-- one is at my Sherwood feeder as well. 12/11/2001 Paulding County's Commissioner's Ponds held only a pair of Mallards, St Paul's Cemetery Pond had 100 Canada Geese, the New Marsh at 61/179 had about 200 Canada Geese and 20 Mallards. The home on US 127 north of Paulding across from the Children's Home had by far the most Canadas, maybe 300. I didn't want to ogle the house with my binocs so I didn't check for the odd other-specie goose. Stokely Ponds, Black Swamp Nature Center and Reservoir were empty of waterfowl. 12/13/2001Rushed over to the New Marsh (61/179) only to see about 200 Mallards and a few small flocks of SnowBuntings and Horned Larks 12/18/2001 Been WAY too busy with Christmas to do any birding personally but Micki & Doug report via the ohiobirds@envirolink listserve: "Well, sooner or later it had to happen... A totally lost Crossbill would set down in Paulding County, soon discover his/her error and then take off. Fortunately, it was in our front yard, and my wife just happened to be glancing out the window. And there it was, a female WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL, enjoying a quick snack at one of our feeders. Naturally, we got all excited and, just as naturally, it left after about twenty-five or thirty minutes. But we will treasure those minutes when one of our northern visitors lost her way and paid us a nice pre-Christmas visit." at their home near Antwerp, only 10 miles away...

20003/3/00 Paulding Reservoir and associated ponds were pretty much dead; only 16 Canada Geese in a near-by field, and the usual small forest birds (titmice, cardinals, downies etc). 3/23/2000 The Commissioner's Woods ponds (I think they may be Paulding sewage lagoons) I haven't been to for years. Today at dusk, Pam & I went over and saw 1 Mute Swan, 3 Horned Grebes, 6 Bufflehead, 30 Mallards, 50 Canada Geese, 100 Lesser Scaup. 3/25/2000 Pam, Micki, Doug & I toured Paulding spots: Commissioner's Woods pond: 100 Lesser Scaup, 50 Canada Geese, 6 Blue-Winged Teal, 3 Pied-Billed Grebes, 3 Horned Grebes, 2 Bonaparte's Gulls, 1 Male Shoveler, and PIPITS. Big Stokely Pond: 7 Buffleheads, 6 Hooded Mergansers, 4 Canada Geese. At the Paulding Reservoir were 8 Shovelers, 6 Coots, 2 Mallards, and a COMMON LOON first of the year for me. 3/30/2000 Black Swamp Nature Center in Paulding held Yellow-Rumped Warblers, Golden-Crowned Kinglets, a Fox Sparrow, an Eastern Phoebe, a Belted Kingfisher, a Great Blue Heron, 6 Blue-Winged Teal, 8 Canada Geese, and the constant crowing of cock pheasants (although I didn't see any). Paulding Reservoir held a lone mallard drake and a 250-member raft of Ringnecked Ducks and Lesser Scaup. Commissioner's Pond had a Ruddy Duck, a Gadwall, a pair of Hooded Mergansers, a pair of RingNecked Ducks, and a few Canada Geese. Stokely Ponds held many Canada Geese, 2 Great Blue Heron and 4 Bufflehead (1m,3f). 3/31/2000 Pam and I toured Paulding's water til dusk: Commissioner's Ponds 4 Bonaparte's Gull, 4 Mallards, 4 BlueWinged Teal, 10 Bufflehead, 50 Lesser Scaup, 50 Canada Geese. Stokely Ponds 1 Coot, 2 Ringnecked Ducks, 6 Mallards, 6 Bufflehead, 20 Canada Geese, and a very friendly Eastern Meadowlark. Paulding Reservoir 25 Bufflehead, 8 American Wigeon, 7 Coots, 3 Horned Grebes, 2 BlueWinged Teal, and a pair of Mallards. Nature Center held the usual, including a Belted Kingfisher. 4/2/2000 Stokely Ponds held the first Purple Martin (male) as well as the first Tree Swallows (30?) of the season. There were also lots of Canada Geese, a Coot, a Great Blue Heron, and 2 very friendly Eastern Meadowlarks. Paulding Reservoir showed 8 Bufflehead, 8 Ruddy Ducks, 6 Bonaparte's Gull, 6 Lesser Scaup, 6 Tree Swallows, 3 Northern Shovelers, 2 Gadwall, 2 Canada Geese, 1 Horned Grebe. At the Nature Center Doug and Mickie pointed out two male Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers (my first of the spring, fighting over the same hickory tree!). There were also 10 Blue-Winged Teal, 4 Canada Geese, 2 Mallards, and the Fox Sparrow. At the Commissioner's Ponds, perhaps 75 Ring-Necked Ducks, 50 Tree Swallows, 50 Canada Geese, 15 Shovelers, 10 BlueWinged Teal, 10 Mallards, 10 Lesser Scaup, 10 Coots, 2 Bonaparte Gulls, 2 Bufflehead, 2 Wood Ducks. 4/9/2000 Stokely Ponds at Paulding had a Red-Breasted Merganser, a Great Blue Heron, a Mallard, 2 Ringnecked Ducks, 7 Shovelers, 10 Buffleheads, 13 Hooded Mergansers, 20 Canadas, many Purple Martins and many Tree Swallows and a friendly Meadowlark. The Reservoir had a lone Mallard, and 50 Ruddy Ducks, and an Horned Grebe. The Nature Center showed 14 Blue-Winged Teal, a small troop of Yellow-Rumped Warblers (8?), and a small tribe of GoldenCrowned Kinglets (6?), a Fox Sparrow, a Shoveler (male), a Kingfisher, and an amazing abundance of Flickers (3 on one snag). The Commissioner's Ponds were amazing. 50 Canadas, 50 Lesser Scaup, 50 Ruddy Ducks, 40 Bonaparte's Gulls, 20 Ring-Necked Ducks, 20 BlueWinged Teal, 10 Shovelers, 10 Coots, 3 pairs of American Wigeons, 3 Buffleheads, 2 Mallards, a Great Blue Heron, and a Horned Grebe that had molted greatly, with a reddish neck and orange horns already starting. There were many Purple Martins and Tree Swallows and Song Sparrows and Horned Larks around. In a nearby ditch was a most cooperative Common Snipe, the first I've seen this year (but of course, I seldom go looking for them). His proximity and the scope gave me more than ample time to closely examine his striped head, buff-striped back and his little reddish tail. 4/14/2000 Commissioner's Pond had 40 Shovelers, 40 BlueWing Teal, 40 Scaup, 40 Ruddy Ducks, 20 Canada Geese, 20 Bonaparte's Gull, 10 Ringnecked Ducks, 10 RedHead Ducks, 6 Wigeon, 5 Coot, 4 Bufflehead, 3 Horned Grebe, 2 Wood Ducks. Nature Center 10 BlueWing Teal, 6 Canada Geese, 2 Mallards, 1 GreenWing Teal, Kingfisher, and my first Ruby-Crowned Kinglet of the year. Stokely Ponds 6 Bufflehead, 6 Canada Goose, 1 Red-Breasted Merganser, a Great Blue Heron, and an extremely light-colored RedTailed Hawk. Reservoir Zilch, Zero, Nada. 4/21/2000 Went to Paulding Reservoir to check on the Red-Necked Grebe that Micki and Doug D. reported, but found only 25 Ruddy Ducks, a Loon, a Coot and a Red-Breasted Merganser. 4/23/2000 Short drive/walk before Easter dinner: Stokely Ponds 10 Canada Geese, 6 Bufflehead, 4 Redheads, 2 Ring-Necked Ducks, 2 Rough-Winged Swallows. Reservoir had 25 Ruddy Ducks, 6 Coots, 1 immature ring-billed gull, and my first 2 DC Cormorants of the year. Black Swamp Nature Center had yellow-rumped warblers, ruby and golden-crowned kinglets, a kingfisher, 4 Mallards, 2 Canadas, 2 Great Blue Herons, Red Admirals, Painted Ladies, White Cabbage Butterflies, Tortoiseshells, AND 2 Brown Thrashers (all those in bold type were my first for the year). I had to rush by the time I got to the Commissioner's Ponds to make Easter Dinner: ca.50 Shovelers, ca.50 Ruddy Ducks, ca.50 Canada Geese, ca.20 Purple Martins, ca.20 BlueWinged Teal, ca10 Redheads, ca.10 Coots, ca.10 Lesser Scaup, ca.10 Ringnecked Ducks, 1 beautifully breeding-plumaged Horned Grebe, 1 Solitary Sandpiper, my first of the year. Found 8 Turkeys at LimbaughRd/PldgDefCoLnRd. 4/24/2000 Reservoir Very happy to see RED-NECKED GREBE until I read that Doug D. had been there and seen FIVE of them only an hour before I arrived. There were also 50 Ruddy Ducks, 6 Ring-Billed Gulls, 2 Gadwall, Barn and Rough-Winged Swallows and a Coot. Black Swamp Nature Center had Yellow-Rumps, Kinglets, 3 Brown Thrashers, 2 Pied-billed Grebes, 2 Canada Geese, a Solitary Sandpiper, many Cedar Waxwings, and my first female Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher, and Chimney Swifts of the season. 4/26/2000 Black Swamp Nature Center was the site of my first Spotted Sandpiper this season, as well as the now-usual YRWarbler, R/GCKinglets, WT Sparrows, 2 Canada Geese, Pied-Billed Grebe, and Kingfisher. Reservoir had 6 Ruddy Ducks. Stokely Ponds had Pied-Billed Grebe, 2 Mallards, 10 Canada Geese, 2 very friendly Meadowlarks, and 2 RoughWing Swallows. Commissioner's Pond: 40 Shovelers, 20 Lesser Scaup, 20 Ruddy Ducks, 12 Bufflehead, 10 RingBilled Ducks, 20 Canada Geese with the first 4 Goslings of the season, 6 Wood Ducks, 4 Mallards, a Pied-Billed Grebe, and a Solitary Sandpiper. 4/28/2000 Warbling Vireo, Hermit Thrush, Palm Warbler reported by Pam A. and Nancy at the Black Swamp Nature Center today. 4/29/2000 Went to Commissioner's Ponds but the sun was in my eye when looking at the waterbirds-- I usually go there after work. Seemed like the usual suspects in the usual numbers (Shovelers, BW Teal, Ruddy, Mallards, Wood Ducks, Canadas, Scaup, Ringnecks etc) but the Canada family was down to 3 goslings. Since the sun was in my eye to the east, I took advantage and watched the birds in the field and fencerow to the west that I usually ignore. Long, luxuriant looks at American Pipits, Horned Larks, Song Sparrows, and RoughWinged Swallows, many of each. The Reservoir was already active with people, so I found only 2 Canada Geese and 9 Ruddy Ducks. Black Swamp Nature Center gave me (true to Pam's predictions) my first-of-spring Warbling Vireo, Palm Warbler, and 2 Green Herons. I scared up many Green Herons, but it was probably the same ones-- I only saw two at one time. 2 Brown Thrashers and 2 Blue-Winged Teal were still a pleasant sight, as were the two goslings now tagging along with the 4 Canada adult geese there. I looked at many Yellow-Rumps hoping to see another warbler! Stokely Ponds: Caught up with Doug D. where we saw a Spotted Sandpiper, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, an Eastern Kingbird, and a RedTailed Hawk (oh, and of course sky carp--Canadas). He said Micki had also seen only 4 warblers so far this season (yellow-rump, yellow, palm, and orange-crowned(!)), and had heard a black-throated green. 5/2/2000 New birds for the season at Black Swamp Nature Center for me today were Rose-Breasted Grosbeak,Nashville Warbler, 3 Hermit Thrushes, 3 Gray Catbirds, with numerous Yellows, Palms, Yellow-Rumps, Kinglets, Thrashers, Gnatcatchers, House Wrens, White-Throated Sparrows, a Lesser Yellowlegs, a Coot, 2 Mallards, and 2 Canada Geese. Reservoir held only a dozen Ruddy Ducks and 2 Canadas. Stokely Ponds had a Kingbird, and a few Canada Geese.5/7/2000 Felt like I'd rather be at Crane Creek, but instead went to Paulding. Black Swamp Nature Center was much slower than Crane Creek but much better than Goll Woods: New for the season were Alder Flycatcher, Northern Parula, Wood Thrush, all 3 singing loudly, and Silver-Spotted Skipper. Strange was a Pied-Billed Grebe swimming with a pair of Canada Geese and their four goslings. The Reservoir was a big goosegg. Stokely Ponds had Canada Geese, 4 Mallards and Meadowlarks. Commissioner's Ponds had 6 Ruddys, 6 Shovelers, 2 Mallards, and a Spotted Sandpiper,with lots of Canadas. There was a family group with 5 goslings. 5/10/2000 Black Swamp Nature Center had a lot of Warbling Vireos and Orioles, too, but also lots of Yellow-rumped, Yellow, Nashville Warblers; 3 Coots, 1 Pied-Billed Grebe, Great Crested Flycatcher. Highlight was my first Gray-Cheeked Thrush of the season. Wild Hyacinth is in bloom in huge clumps!5/12/2000 Black Swamp Nature Center Redstarts, Gray-Cheek & Swainson's Thrushes, Gnatcatchers, nothing new did I spy. 6/4/2000 Been a long time with all the graduation and family picnic preparations... Stokely Ponds had only a pair of Mallards and their 9 ducklings, and 5 Canada Geese (well, ok, Meadowlarks etc). The Reservoir was deserted. Black Swamp Nature Center had only the usual Orioles, Goldfinches, Canada Geese, Kingfisher, Cedar Waxwings and Willow Flycatcher.Commissioner's Ponds had a hundred Mallards of all ages, about 15 Ruddy Ducks and a Canada Goose. 6/25/2000 The birds have been so common that I have forgotten to post some of my (lack-of-) adventures. Today was much better. A Double-Crested Cormorant at the Paulding Reservoir, and hundreds of Tree Swallows/15 Mallards/15 Ruddy Ducks/2 Spotted Sandpipers chasing each other across the water's surface at Commissioner's Pond. 7/8/2000 Not much birding, but a lot of barbecuing lately! Commissioner's Ponds at Paulding had 14 Wood Ducks,12 Ruddy Ducks, 10 Canada Geese, 2 Mallards, 2 Spotted Sandpipers (not much change there). Black Swamp Nature Center Thrashers and Kingbirds were evident on the short drive in. I only visited the pond on the left since there were quite a few people already there. It held 32 Wood Ducks. Stokely Ponds had 22 Mallards and about 10 Canada Geese, with lots of meadowlarks, swifts, and swallows. Paulding Reservoir had no water birds. All along State Route 111 from Defiance to Paulding could be heard the calls of dickcissels, even at 55 mph. 8/3/2000 Lots of vacationing done, but little birding. Paulding Reservoir zilch Stokely Ponds 4 mallards Black Swamp Nature Center 14 Mallards, 9 Wood Ducks Commissioner's Ponds 2 Ruddy Ducks, ca 25 Mallards, 6 Canada Geese, 2 Spotted Sandpipers. Lots of common summer birds like Kingbirds, Barn & Tree Swallows, Meadowlarks, Chimney Swifts etc. I8/9/00 The Paulding tour was virtually identical to 8/3. 8/18/2000 Paulding was pretty much the same as all summer: The Reservoir held nothing at all. 33 Mallards were at the Stokely Ponds. Black Swamp Nature Center held 3 Wood Ducks, 2 Mallards, 1 Green Heron, 1 immature Great Blue Heron, 3 Kingfishers, and lots of kingbirds, catbirds, and swifts. Commissioner's Ponds held 31 Wood Ducks, 6 Mallards, a RedTailed Hawk, 1 Turkey Vulture, 8 Canada Geese and a pair of Gadwalls.8/19/2000 Pam & I birded Stokely Ponds (6 Mallards, hundreds of Tree Swallows and Martins), the Reservoir (zilch), Black Swamp Nature Center doing the Goldfinch Trail around the Cattail Pond, then Falling Timbers Trail around the Mosquito Lake (a Mallard, 3 Green Herons, 3 Hummingbirds, 3 Kingfishers, 8 Wood Ducks, Warbling Vireos, Baltimore Orioles, Cedar Waxwings, House Finches, Goldfinches, Bluebirds, Phoebes, Red-Bellied Woodpecker, a Flicker, only one Catbird, a Song Sparrow, a single Red-Winged Blackbird, a brown Harrier, a Turkey Vulture, a non-singing Flycatcher, and very numerous robins and starlings. Overhead were hundreds of Purple Martins. Looking through binoculars at an apparently empty piece of blue sky would reveal more very high up). Doug & Micki reported the first PIPITS of the season today at a Payne golf course. The earliest date they have had for Pipits was August 22, 1987.9/4/2000 Paulding was the same, except the wood ducks are missing from the Nature Center. 9/12/2000 Paulding Nature Center had many many warblers, all of which I checked were either Magnolia, Nashville, or Black-Throated Green. A Yellow-Throated Vireo also put in an appearance. Extremely numerous and active Robins, Grackles, Flickers, Catbirds, Cardinals and Hummingbirds. Also at the Stick Pond were 25-30 Pintails sleeping in the middle, with a lone Great Blue Heron to watch over them. On the Catttail Pond were 6 Mallards and 6 Wood Ducks, with a single Green Heron. 9/13/2000 Paulding Nature Center had 8 Swainson's Thrushes and a single warbler (Magnolia). Both the juvenile and adult Great Blue Heron were there, too, and a Pied-Billed Grebe, all at the Stick Pond. At the Cattail Pond was a single Wood Duck. Zilch at the Reservoir, Stokely Ponds, and Commissioner's Pond. 9/15/2000 Paulding Nature Center had 6 Mallards, 24 Blue-Winged Teal and a Green Heron on the Cattail Pond, and a Kingfisher on the Stick Pond. Not too much. Stokely Ponds had only a very cooperative juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk, a Kestrel, and a Turkey Vulture. Commissioner's Ponds: 3 Wood Ducks. Reservoir zilch. Bijou, my dachshund, was the only amused one with a groundhog at the Cattail Pond. 9/29/2000 Paulding Reservoir is no longer bare-- 11 Ring-Billed Gulls. Stokely Ponds had Chimney Swifts. Paulding Nature Center seemed really boring at first, with the usual Titmice, Chickadees, Cardinals, Jays, Catbirds, 2 Mallards, 28 Canada Geese, the Resident Kingfisher and Great Blue Heron, Flickers etc but just as I was ready to leave I happened upon a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo, Tennessee, Nashville, Magnolia, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, Swainson's Thrushes, White-Throated Sparrows, and a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. When I got home and checked the mail, Dunakins had added that they had seen somewhere in Paulding County these plus Palm Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Lincoln's and Swamp Sparrows. Pam reports Nashville Warblers in her yard, too, on the Pldg/Defiance Co Line Road. 10/1/2000 Paulding Reservoir, Stokely Ponds and Commissioner's Ponds were blank. The Nature Center held only common birds; the Cattail Pond held 2 Mallards and 3 Blue-Winged Teal. 5 Kestrel and 1 Harrier were nearby. 10/8/2000 Zip at Stokely Ponds. Reservoir held 2 RedHead Ducks. Commissioner's Ponds held 4 Ruddy Ducks, 2 per pond. Black Swamp Nature Center had a Kingfisher, a Mallard drake, and 3 Canada Geese at the Stick Pond; a Wood Duck eclipse drake, a female Wigeon, 2 BlueWinged Teal, and 2 female Mallards at the Cattail Pond. There were probably 50 warblers, all of which I binoculed were YellowRumped. The Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker is still there. 10/19/2000 Paulding Reservoir, Commissioner's Ponds were zilch. So were Stokely Ponds unless you count the two Meadowlarks and the Killdeer. Black Swamp Nature Center Cattail Pond had 2 Blue-Winged Teal, and a drake Wood Duck in breeding plumage. The Red-Winged Blackbirds were still there by the dozen, along with Golden-Crowned Kinglets, White-Throated Sparrows, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, 2 Swainson's Thrush, and 2 Hermit Thrush complete with tail dropping! Lots of bluebirds, too. 10/21/2000 Paulding Black Swamp Nature Center had 2 Blue-Winged Teal on the Cattail Pond, a group of White-Throated Sparrows, a group of Yellow-Rumped Warblers, a group of Cedar Waxwings at the Stick Pond. 2 Ruddy Ducks were at the Stokely Ponds, and 2 more at the Commissioner's Ponds. 14 Ducks were silhouetted at the Reservoir , but I didn't alot enough time to change positions and determine what they were. I'd guess Coots.10/22/2000 At Paulding's Reservoir were 2 Ruddy Ducks, 7 Mallards. Black Swamp Nature Center had lots of visitors, mostly children, so I skipped the Stick Pond and walked around the Cattail Pond seeing only 2 BlueWinged Teal, a pair of Wood Ducks (the male in breeding plumage), and Ruby-Crowned Kinglets. Stokely Ponds had nothing, except a Meadowlark and 5 Rock Doves, and when I got to the Commissioner's Ponds there was a hunter at both entrances in full camoflauge with guns. 10/26/2000 Pam Adam's woods was the site for a brief stroll tonight, with a lot of Sparrows (Field, Chipping, House, White-Throated, White-Crowned), Junco, Woodpeckers (Downy, Red-Bellied, Immature Red-Headed), Blue Jays, a single Robin, White-Breasted Nuthatch, lots of Cedar Waxwings, Black-Capped Chickadees, a Crow, a Mourning Dove and a Winter Wren. Amazed as I watched 3 Flickers and 4 Blue Jays chase a male Kestrel to a sapling, where sat all 8 birds for a few minutes. 11/2/2000 Zilch, zilch, zilch, zilch waterfowl at Paulding "hotspots."11/4/00 Paulding: Reservoir zilch Commissioner's Ponds zilch Stokely Ponds: only heard a Mallard in the marshy pond Nature Center: no waterfowl, only Bluebirds (20?), Yellow-Rumped Warbler (20?), and White-Throated Sparrows (5?). 11/10/00 Paulding Reservoir had 7 Mallards that flew off as soon as I set up the spotting scope. The remaining 3 Redheads probably wished they had as well, as a hunter with his gun and chocolate lab pulled up behind me. Stokely Ponds were barren-- except for the 100 Mallards in the marshy pond that immediately flew up as I emerged from my car at the pond across the road. Commissioner's Ponds had 14 Ruddy Ducks, a male Harrier, a RedTailed Hawk, and many Larks. Black Swamp Nature Center had too many visitors to hold any waterfowl. 11/19/2000 Paulding was raw, windy and bitter with zilch at the Reservoir, zilch at Stokely Ponds (unless you'd like to count a Kestrel), zilch at Commissioner's Ponds (unless you'd like to count 2 crows and a RedTailed Hawk), zilch at Nature Center (unless the Juncos, Red Squirrels, and Blue Jays are counted). 11/23/2000 Paulding's Black Swamp Nature Center was void of all but human life. Stokely Ponds had 2 Mallard hens. The Reservoir held 7 Canada Geese that quickly left, although I was at the opposite end. They left one of their own on the bank of the reservoir, evidently shot, with a mackerel tabby neatly eating it through a single hole in its side. A Harrier posed unafraid on a low shrub near the Quarry, as I binoculed and scoped it, having to leave it in order to make Thanksgiving dinner on time! 11/25/2000 In stark contrast, Stokely Ponds, Commissioner's Ponds held zilch, while Paulding Reservoir had about 25 Mallards and 1 lone Canada Goose that took off before I could even set up the spotting scope! Maybe the lone goose was the spouse of the dead one earlier on the dike. Nature Center had 2 Carolina Wrens raising quite a fuss with all the birds trying to visit a feeder that hadn't been filled in quite a long time, but was today: RedBellied Woodpecker, Blue Jays, Juncos, Goldfinches etc very actively after the food! 1999 Nature Center: There were numerous Monarchs, Silver-Spotted Skippers, Cabbage, and Crescent Butterflies, as well as Catbirds, Goldfinches, Cardinals, Garter Snakes, Green Frogs, Groundhogs and Rabbits everywhere. A lone mallard, a single kingfisher and a green heron emerged during a short walk with the dog. Best was at my favorite spot (Stick pond, right turn, go to end of trail by road) where there were 2 Pine Warblers. The reservoir and the ponds on CR142 were deserted. 9/12/99 there were common nighthawks and chimney swifts everywhere, a blue heron in the stick pond, and 2 Thrush sp (Swainson's?) in my favorite spot. Birding in the fall with all the leaves on the trees is nowhere like birding in the spring!!! 9/26/99 Nature Center: Usual flickers/catbirds/bluejays/cardinals/robins and the single kingfisher, etc but also many killdeer and Canada geese. There were two Swainson's Thrush (definitely :), and a Solitary Sandpiper and a Spotted Sandpiper unmistakably close on the dried out swamp in the middle of the Stick Pond. No nighthawks or chimney swifts or swallows of any kind. There was also a single Whitefronted Goose in with the Canadas. 10/16/99 Saturday. Nice day to walk the Nature Center, greeted at the entrance by a flock of juncos. The regular suspects: ruby-crowned kinglets, crows, jays, robins (although not many, maybe 10), cedar waxwings, downy woodpeckers, killdeer, nuthatches, titmice, chipmunks, foxsquirrels, the resident kingfisher, a great many warblers--all yellowrumped that i binoculed.10/17/99 Sunday. Dunakins saw 13 species where yesterday I observed none at the reservoir. Green-winged teal, 30+ gadwall, mallards, greater & lesser scaup, shovelers, canvasback, ringnecks, redheads, red-breasted merganser, coot, and Bonaparte's gulls. Jean & John Perchalski of Van Wert, noted that at the similar Van Wert reservoir 20mi South, there was only a pied-billed grebe. (from ohio-birds@envirolink.org)10/25/99 Monday. Nature Center: 3/4 of the way around the stick pond and all i'd seen were 2 robins, a mourning cloak, and a domestic tiger feline, when i came upona a small clan of golden-crowned kinglets, the resident kingfisher, a juvenile gull, and the requisite yellow-rumped warblers. 11/8/99 Upon my return from Kansas City KS, I find that the Dunakins discovered at the Reservoir on 11/3/99 20 Green-winged Teal, 135 Tundra Swans, Canvassbacks, Redheads and Ruddies. Of course, while I was gone :) Today there I saw 100 gulls (mixed ring-bills and Bonapartes) a large flock (50?) of redheads, and a small raft of (6?) bufflehead. 75 crows flew overhead. 11/15/99 Only juncos and small red dragonflies.RED-THROATED LOON 11/17/99 at Paulding Reservoir, reported by Micki/Doug Dunakin and Pam/Phil Adams!!! 1997 4/2/97 Ventured out to the 10-acre field I bought to see what I could find. Nicely THREE COMMON SNIPE, 50 RedWinged Blackbirds, 30 Rock Doves, 4 Robins, a Song Sparrow, a Killdeer, and an Eastern Meadowlark in about 20 minutes. On another 6 acre plot I bought, that adjoins the Maumee River, were a pair of Wood Ducks, a Grackle, a Crow, a White-Breasted Nuthatch, a Song Sparrow, and a Robin. 3/15 I saw a Mourning Cloak here. 4/3/97 6 acre plot: BCC, FSq, HaWo, SoSp 4/14/97 Another Snipe scared up at the 10-acre site.

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