Okay, so it’s a blackbird. But it’s not just any blackbird…

It’s the Rusty Blackbird, and it is in trouble!

  Photo by Greg Cornett

 Rusty Blackbirds have experienced an 85-99% population drop in the last half-century. Over the last 15 years, research on Rusty breeding and wintering ecology has allowed us to develop conservation strategies to protect this vulnerable species. But many questions still remain, and Rusty Blackbird migration habits are largely a mystery.  Are there hot spots where many Rusties congregate during migration? Are similar migratory stopovers areas used by Rusties each year, and are these places protected?

  Photo by Greg Cornett

The International Rusty Blackbird Working Group, in partnership with eBird, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Smithsonian, and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, is launching a spring migration Blitz. The objectives of the Blitz are:
1. Identify migratory stopover sites
2. Determine consistency of numbers/timing of Rusty Blackbird migration
3. Strengthen relationships with state and federal agencies in order to advance Rusty Blackbird conservation
4. Engage the birding community and create increased awareness and excitement about Rusty Blackbirds

  Photo by Greg Cornett

    Rusty Blackbirds frequent wet woods. 

    

Go to http://rustyblackbird.org/outreach/migration-blitz/ for complete information and to help!

Photo by Greg Cornett

Will you accept a Rusty challenge?  

This spring, help advance our understanding of one of the most rapidly declining landbirds in North America!   

Go to http://rustyblackbird.org/outreach/migration-blitz/

Special "thanks" goes to Judy Kolo-Rose for all text in this article.  Greg Cornett provided the photos.

Ken Ostermiller is Ohio's Rusty Blackbird coordinator for 2015.  

We are off to see...

We are off to see... NATURE!

We're off to see...

Attending natural history events is a good way to inform your experience and learn more about nature.  The next step is taking your new-found information out into the woods, fields or streams.

Here is a line up of some of my favorite spring festivals:

Adams County Birding Symposium  Saturday March 7th, held in Southern Ohio. This event has limit seating and it fills up quickly! Register now or you will miss out!

Many of us stay at the wonderful Murphin Inn Bed and Breakfast, a retreat to make your winter all better.  The granola must be experienced, 'nuff said.

Find the rare Snow Trilllium, Trillium nivale in Adams County

I intend to stay an extra day to do a little birding or botanizing.  This is the time to see Ohio's rarest Trillium, Trillium nivale, the miniature trillium oblivious to snow!

Katie Fallon is the Keynote speaker at this year's festival.  This is her wonderful book about the The Cerulean Warbler. The story connects us with the life history of a warbler species in great decline, the Cerulean Warbler. Spoiler alert: loss of breeding habitat is key.

Did you know the Cerulean Warblers breed in the Mohican Forest?  One more reason to keep our trees.

Then mark your calendar for April 25-27th, 2015

The Ohio Ornithological Society will be headed to Shawnee Park and Forest and registration is right here.

We have an offering of excellent speakers, including Lang Elliot, Jim McCormac and my personal hero, Martin McAllister!  Marty will tell us more about The Nature Conservancy's Sunshine Corridor.  

Slant Lined moth on Lady's-slipper Orchid

You know the "Weedpicker" is going to be looking at the flowers of the forest!  Register for a hike to see Spring Warblers and maybe a few early orchids!

All these are warm ups for the BIG event, The Biggest Week in American Birding- May 8-17th, 2015.  Registration will be opened soon. So get ready, get set, GO SEE WARBLERS!

Prothonotary Warbler at Magee Boardwalk

Come for the birds, but stay for the informational programs and some of the best (and a few of the wackiest) birders from all across America.  There will be spotting scopes for sale, birders in Kilts and if you look really hard you many spot the incog-negro* himself, Drew Lanham!

My Tribe, a mixed group of birders who I can't wait to see again.
Photo pilfered from Jeff Bouton's Facebook page.
 (Buy something Leica from him, so he doesn't get mad at me!)

There will be Pie!  The Biggest Week is the biggest celebration of birding held in America. If you have friends, sign them up and head to Oak Harbor!  If you don't have friends, you will after visiting this place!

Join us for the root'n toot'n-est time you ever had.  Oh yeah, there will be good birding too.  Sign up for trips to new places.  Meet a crazy conservationist (me!)  Or just come for the pie and meet Greg Miller.  Anyway you cut it, this is an action packed event.



* Drew's term, not mine. Frankly, I hope to spot him!

We Need Trees

Being in a forest makes me feel... better.  

                                                                       Breath in deeply.

The smell of pine or spruce is a tonic to my soul.  I am not the only one who has noticed this, apparently the Japanese have studied the phenomenon.

Forest bathing 

"The Japanese term Shinrin-yoku may literally mean "forest bathing," but it doesn't involve soaking in a tub among the trees. Rather it refers to spending time in the woods for its therapeutic (or bathing) effect.  Most of us have felt tension slip away in the midst of trees and nature's beauty.  But science now confirms its healing influence on the body. When you spend a few hours on a woodland hike or camping by a lake you breath in phytoncides, active substances released by plants to protect them against insects and from rotting, which appear to lower blood pressure and stress and boost your immune system." - Mother Nature Network 

Dead ash limbs at Mohican's  river campground B.

 Unfortunately, in Ohio something has gone wrong.  It is called Emerald Ash Borer.  Because of a little bug, which found its way here from over seas, much of Ohio's ash trees are going, going, gone.

Hauling away the remains. 

(Doesn't this spread the bug?)

State foresters downed hundreds of ash in the Mohican campgrounds and along the river picnic sites and the Lodge. These trees were deemed a safety hazard to the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Mohican State Park each year.  I get that.  I really do.  They did the right thing.

It is a tragic loss. It was difficult to watch, especially at a time we need all the trees we can get for sequestering carbon.  Trees breath, too.  We are the beneficiaries of their by product, Oxygen. One might think we would preserve as many other species of trees as possible, now that the ash are gone.

Natural history- cut for removal.

 These trees were not infected with Emerald Ash Borer.  The red pines were likely planted by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps.) in the 1920's or 1930's.  After WWI millions of people were out of jobs, and the land of Mohican had been striped of trees and suffered erosion due to the poor timbering and farming practices.  A conservation crew was sent in to replant forests. These trees were our natural and national history.

 At the time all living trees are at a premium, these trees were cut.  Stumps and green vegetation is all that remains.  Now the Mohican Gorge Overlook, one of our most cherished locations, features stumps.

Since the laws  regarding State Parks were changed in 2012, now like our state forests, parks are free to profit from trees which are removed.  This is what a revenue stream looks like.

These pine were not dead or dangerous.  In fact, they look like wonderful timber.  We have many acres of trees that were planted in Mohican  which could have been harvested instead. Why destroy this very public area?

Our current park management has deemed we do not need these trees.  We need more grass, more mowing and less biodiversity.  I could have stayed in the city for that.

 Breath deeply.  Visit your State Parks and Forests, soon.  Don't take it for granted that the areas you most cherish will be there next week,

My Mohican, is gone.