OOS holds a Rally for Rails

This article is reproduced from The Cerulean,  To see the OOS newsletter in it's entirety go here:

 The Fall Cerulean 2016

ONAPA visits Lakeside

 Saturday the 20th of September 2014 was a big day for Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Association.  Our second Annual Meeting was held in Lakeside, Ohio. This organization is only two years old, but it has grown by leaps and bounds!  We have amazing volunteers working in preserves and the backing of some very impressive scientists and educators all across our state- and beyond.

Mr. Allison Cusick gave the Keynote address.

 Retired Ohio Natural Areas and Preserves Chief Botanist, Allison Cusick, gave a rousing program on The New Sandusky Flora.

Besides being an excellent public speaker, Allison has also authored or co-authored 3 books. Currently, Allison is a Research Associate of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA. This man has hardly retired!

 He encouraged us to  "lament what has been lost, marvel at what has persisted and cheer at what has been preserved."  We literally cheered for some plants during this program, as Allsion is a gifted orator who knows how to engage a crowd!

His program referenced E.L. Moseley's Sandusky Flora which cataloged the plants of the Marblehead Peninsula and surrounding areas at the turn of the century (1900.)

 There were displays by supporting non-profits, Ohio Ornithological Society and Mid-West Native Plant Society were both in attendance (special thanks to Julie Davis and Kathy McDonald.)

Kevin Sibbring visits the ONAPA display.

The ONAPA display (thanks to Jan Kennedy) was also present, and Lakeside's CEO, Kevin Sibbring attended the event and gave us all a warm "Welcome to Lakeside."

Black Swamp Bird Observatory's display.

ONAPA supporters Kim and Kenn Kaufman.

 My friends, Hugh and Judy Kolo-Rose brought along the BSBO display and offered an amazing selection of books for sale.


ONAPA's Silent Auction, was an outstanding success, thanks to the efforts of Mary Christensen and Katryn Renard.  A special thank you goes out to the generous people and companies that donated items to this auction.  You have been a great blessing to ONAPA, and we appreciate your kind support.

Guy Denny

ONAPA  President, Guy Denny, gave an overview of the year and the amazing things ONAPA has accomplished.  Of course, he wouldn't say this, but Guy is the glue that holds this organization together!  We appreciate all he does and the incredible knowledge of leaders like Guy, Dick Moseley, Jim McGreggor, Bob McCance, Tim Synder, Ray Heithaus, Jim Mason and all the other board members who attended (and those who were unable to be with us.)  They do so much to protect our natural areas.

One field trip was held in Lakeside Ohio along the Ohio's Most Beautiful Mile.

 Field Trips!  What would an ONAPA event be without free Field Trips?  Guy Denny led a group to Castalia Praire, while Dick Moseley led a trip to Sheldon Marsh.  Meanwhile, your blogger got to lead a field trip on the shore of Lake Erie in Lakeside, Ohio.  We had wonderful groups both Saturday and Sunday. We discussed the unique Carolinian Forest botany of Lakeside and visited many native trees and plants along the lakefront path.

The self proclaimed "Cane Brigade."

As always, when leading groups one often gets more than they give.  It was such an honor to spend time with friends on this beautiful shoreline to exchange information on botany and plant ecology.  But even more than that, I was reminded how important it was to have this simple offering available to some wonderful folks who would have physical barriers to enjoying the other field trips.  Lakeside lends itself to the enjoyment and education of people in all walks and ages.  It was a distinct honor to be able to share one of my favorite vistas with my botanical friends.

Thank you to everyone who attended and supported the Silent Auction.  You are making this state a better place by supporting our Natural Heritage!

From the (birding) news!

One of the many organizations that I am happy to promote is the Ohio Ornithological Society.  They bill themselves as "Ohio's Birding Network."  OOS (as we fondly call them) has a stellar website which includes current information, blog links, and a calendar.  You should check them out if you are interested in Ohio's birds and the birding scene. Go to www.Ohiobirds.org.

The Cerulean is the name of a beautiful blue warbler, a small bird that is a real poster child for conservation.
It is also the name of the OOS' newsletter.  It is packed full of good information.  Today I was surprised to see an article on page four- that looked really familiar!

In case you missed my presentation at Mid-West Native Plant Conference- this article is  a short-course on the topic.

If you are interested in reading the whole thing, go here.  Meanwhile, Click on the Cerulean logo in my side panel and  join the OOS.

You'll also want to sign up for Midwest Birding Symposium!  We have load of fun planned for Lakeside, Ohio this September.  Hope to see you there!

Not just another pretty Bobolink

This is not just another pretty Bobolink.  Much more than a grassland bird, this is also a symbol of conservation in Ashland County. Once we reveled in the sighting of a few Bobolinks at Byers Woods; now we enjoy a cacophony of the males' burbling song. As many as fifty bobolinks were recently seen fluttering above their grassland gals on the methane mountain* at Byers Woods.

* This grassland is a result of capped landfill mound.

A Bobolinks at Byers Woods....photo by Lisa Rainsong.

Bobolinks at Byers Woods is a little festival the Greater Mohican Audubon Society has been putting on since 2006.  It is a successful blending of teamwork, conservation, education, tourism and a whole lotta fun.  Most of all it is a success story.  Byers Woods is a landfill which has been re-purposed into an Ashland County Park which holds an abundance of wildlife.

Bluebirds tending young in the nest.

Byers Woods is not just for Bobolinks! There are plenty of close-up looks at other birds tending their young.  Many locals go to Byers to look at wildflowers, walk their dogs, or to visit the ponds, and they undoubtedly encounter something new on every visit!

Jim McCormac's group celebrates great looks at a rarity. (photo provided by Jim)

The Bobolink festival increases the odds for nature interaction by providing -at no charge- some of the the best bird guides in Ohio. Jim McCormac is legend for his hearing ability, and no doubt his keen ears led this group to the rare Black-billed Cuckoo hiding out at Byers Woods.

 

Later that morning, Jim regrouped for a second trip, specializing in butterflies and dragonflies.

Jim shared an up close and personal look at a dragonfly. (Photo by Irv Oslin)

Jim is one of Ohio best known and experienced trip leaders. We appreciate all he has done to promote this park from its earliest days, and his willingness to participate at our festival. Jim was the keynote speaker at the very first one.

 

Tim Leslie of the Ashland County Park District (Photo Irv Oslin) 

Plently of Ashland County Park District (ACPD) folks helped too, like trip leader Tim Leslie and Kolleen Crall who made crafts with kids.  The ACPD provides food service, parking help, and tables for the vendors.

I wish I had a photo of all the vendors and displays, as it was wonderful. (You'll notice most of these photo were sent to me; I only had time to snap a few on my phone.)  Bianca Davis handed all the educational displays and vendors this  year, and she and her son Derrick did a magnificent job.  They were the first ones there in the morning and the last Audubon members left folding tents and cleaning up long after the party was over.  A VERY SPECIAL thanks goes out to them!  

Weedpicker Cheryl points out butterflies with Lisa Rainsong. (Photo Irv Oslin)

Music professor, Lisa Rainsong, led our first "Bird Song" trip for this festival.  There have been rave reviews on her abilities as a leader and guide.  Greg Miller and Su Snyder also helped people find Bobolinks  in their spotting scopes.  We appreciate their volunteering as well.

Sure, it is all fun and guides now, but the fact remains, this little festival is a conservation effort in progress.   In the early days, Bobolinks were dying on this field during the annual early summer mowings.  Our efforts to educate the public and raise awareness have resulted in pseudo-sanctuary for grassland birds.  This is why it is important that the Bobolink festival remains free and open to the public.  But to run a festival like this -with tents, banners and top quality leaders- it does take money.   

Fortunately, some folks cared enough about grassland birds to help us raise some funds for the effort.

Michelle Goodman and Cheryl Harner with  Michael Godfrey, videographer from Virginia.
Photo by Randy Harner

Michael Godfrey was gracious enough to show a video and lead a discussion on conservation and climate change and its impact on grassland birds. The audience was charmed by his narrative which included photos from his farm in Virginia.  This special benefit program helped Greater Mohican Audubon Society raise funds to continue our educational efforts at Byers Woods.

Participants enjoyed the benefit held at Gorman Nature Center.

 Thanks to those to joined us for a casual evening and contributed generously to the cause.  We would like to especially acknowledge the support of Ohio Ornithological Society, Black Swamp Bird Conservancy and the North Central Ohio Land Trust.  Your generous support has helped us take this festival to the next level.

Lakeside- Karlson's Photo Class

Sunday Morning of the OOS Conference, I climbed the stairs of the pavilion at the lakefront to attend the Kevin Karlson Photography class.

"Storm watch" at Lakeside Dock

The view, overlooking the dock from the classroom windows, was inspiring. The clouds were rolling across Lake Erie, giving threats of a North-east storm.   

Fall weather on Lake Erie is bi-polar: lovely or brutal. 

 Gordon Lightfoot referred to the "gales of November."  It is a legend on the lakes, immortalized in "The Edmund Fitzgerald."

Kevin Karlson teaches our class about focus and composition of a photo.  If you get an opportunity to take his class, sign up!  We covered a ton of great info including-

the basic principles, like the "rule of thirds."

Lake Erie's sky rules in thirds.

As I looked out the window, the heavens were blessing Kevin's class.

OOS Conference 2012

Birders and Lakeside- a match made in heaven.  The 2012 Annual Conference of OOS was held in Lakeside, Ohio this weekend and just one of the popular events was a breakfast with the birds.

Sunrise greets the birders at Lakeside, Ohio.  This fabulous breakfast was a joint effort of  Birding Ohio  Facebook group and OOS. It is good to mingle with fellow birders and share with friends.

Lukas Padegimas and Greg Miller- entertaining birders!

Lukas Padegimas  lead off the Friday evening program with a mind-blowing account of his summer surveying birds near the arctic. He is a young birder you'll want to watch, as he could be our next "Greg Miller!"  

Greg gave some fun commentary during the movie The Big Year. He has been a wonderful ambassador for the birding world and we are very proud he is one of Ohio Ornithological Society's founding board members.

Birding!  Of course, there was birding.  Saturday morning, birders thrilled to the opportunity to bird with Kenn and Kim Kaufman  (foreground-in gray) at Meadowbrook Marsh- a wetland recently conserved by the joint efforts of OOS, Carbon Offset, and Mid-West Birding Symposium.  Black Swamp Land Conservancy is doing the actual land conservation.  Kudos to Danbury Township for its foresight to set aside land for bird (and fish) conservation.

 The Ohio Young Birders will be doing their Big Sit!on this platform at Meadowbrook, and you can go here to donate to that cause.

Kevin Karlson, author of -"Visions: a Photographic Celebration of Birds and Nature"

 Kevin Karlson of Cape May birding fame is a reknown photographer and shorebird expert.  He gave two presentations.

The first,  Saturday mid-morning, was a review of "impressions" of shorebirds.  Forget plumage- Kevin says to look at the body structure of shorebirds to make your ID.  He has us all eager to join him on a beach at Cape May!

His evening keynote address "Visions: a Photographic Celebration of Birds and Nature" was both relaxing and inspiring at the same time.  His book is going on the top of my Christmas list!  (Did you read that, family?)

Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, the location of our well-attended shore bird trip.
We are fortunate to have the largest area of wetlands in the entire state of Ohio as an active partner.  

Jason Lewis, Director at Ottawa is a powerful ally for birds (and butterflies!)  He has made the refuge more accessible and allowed great folks like Rebecca Hinkle, Sherrie Duris, Tom Bartlett  and others to lead educational trips into otherwise unavailable areas.  We appreciate this generous cooperation.

Native botany at Ottawa

Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge has a beautiful native garden filled with butterflies and pollinators! The birds "flocked" to this area while the birders enjoyed it during our lunch.  It is an excellent example of native plants in the landscape providing a function along with their form. 

Botany tip of the day:  Did anyone else smell the fragrance of Butterscotch? Those white Heath Aster Symphyotrichum pilosum have a unique fragrance you can use to identify them. Unfortunately, they have so many common names: Heath Aster, Frost Aster, Hairy White Oldfield Aster-you need the scientific name for the sure thing. 

Oh Asters, you just have to be confusing!

More Meadowbrook

 More Meadowbrook.  Let's face it, the world would be a better place if there were "more Meadowbrooks."

Great Egrets lined up at Meadowbrook Marsh

Meadowbrook Marsh is a park in Danbury Township on the Marblehead peninsula of Ohio.  It was set aside for nature and recreation through some great community efforts, and some statewide birding projects are helping to conserve even more of the wetland.

It was the first ever Carbon Offset Bird Project- rolled out at the Midwest Birding Symposium 2011.

A towering Bur Oak.

In addition to the wonderful wetlands, you'll find woods, fields and the most incredible oak tree that dwarfs mere humans.

Julie Davis, Kim and Kenn Kaufman, Jen Sauter, and Cheryl Harner hope you will bird at Meadowbrook.

Two of Ohio's largest bird organizations, BSBO and OOS are working together to protect and preserve this area which provides excellent bird habitat.

I hope you will join us on Sept 28-30 in Lakeside for the OOS Conference... and join a field trip to Meadowbrook Marsh to see what all the fuss is about!

OOS visits Ottawa

This was not a forced march.  It was voluntary.  Yes, these people opted to get up at 6:00 AM to pack into cars and a bus to drive to a remote location within the Ottawa National Wildlife Reserve.   This is what we call "Birding".  

The OOS knows what makes these  people "tick." And most of them hope they don't get ticks whilst doing it.

photo by  Ernie Cornelius

 A two-rank line forms to hike the grassy dike out to sparrow land.  Some people will do about anything when promised the likes of Dickcissels and Henslows.

photo by  Ernie Cornelius

 Bill Thompson III, also known as BT3 led our intrepid  birders on the journey.  Our newest and possibly youngest member, Catie Strable is following close to his foot steps and soaking it all in.  Lucky girl!

photo by  Ernie Cornelius

 Dickcissels?  Yes, here is one we watched being attacked by an Eastern Kingbird. They put on quite the show.

photo by  Ernie Cornelius

 But what is this OOS?  It is people. A society, the Ohio Ornithological Society.  Check out our website at www.Ohiobirds.org and see what we are up to.  Join us for our educational conferences, or just free, fun field trips- like this one!


We are made up of all ages and abilities of bird-watching enthusiasts.

photo by  Ernie Cornelius

Young Ethan Kistler (in the green), has nearly been raised by this group!  Our world traveling birder is barely in his twenties and he has been a member since he was in his early teens.  As a child he had much to learn, and now he is teaching us... lots!

photo by  Ernie Cornelius

One of our older and wiser birders is  Dan Sanders (in red) veteran birdwatcher, with a 700 plus life list (in the ABA).  Dan is an OOS  board member, who is happy to lend his expertise to promote birding and bird science.  He and Doreen (in the blue) have contributed a great deal of information to Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas.  Their tireless efforts enable scholars to better understand breeding bird populations across Ohio.

photo by  Ernie Cornelius

Our partner for this trip was the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge system.  Ottawa is the largest expanse of wetland in Ohio and a significant refuge for birds, plants and animals of all kinds. From Bald Eagles to butterflies,  Ottawa is a center for science and nature study.  It is also frequented by birders, fisherman  and hunters alike.  Thanks U.S. Fish and Wildlife!

The OOS welcomes people of all ages to a social network of birding.  Learn from others and spread the joy. We are creating a community of birders who network in order to learn more, protect birds by education and conservation.  Are we perfect?  Not yet, but maybe if you volunteer we can become even better at what we do.  If you are not already a member I hope you'll join today.

Join the fun.  Join Ohio's Birding Network.  The Ohio Ornithological Society, free trips, more fun.  

Where Cheetahs... prosper

It doesn't take much encouragement to talk me into spending extra time at The Wilds.   After our OOS outing on Saturday, several of us spent the night and lucked into a very special tour on Sunday morning.

A tour that had me seeing SPOTS....

on the Cheetahs at the Wilds!  Rather exciting to be within yards of these lean, not so mean, carnivores.  These boys are built for speed and unlike most cats do their hunting mid-day.  Hence the black eye-stripes a la pro-football players, possibly having evolved to reduce the sun's glare.   

 As we toured the mid-sized carnivore compound, we learned that some lucky "cheetahs" do prosper.  Especially the ones living here.  Not only do they get shelters with heated concrete floors, their meals are delivered to their door.  But this is no ordinary zoo setting, it is where the Columbus Zoo has an active breeding program.  Oh, yeah.  The big cats here have plenty of room and families are kept together.  Cheetahs males live and travel with their birth brothers, forming a "coalition" where they hunt and feed together all their lives.  Females live singularly.

 POOR Steve.  This bro has some broken toes so he is healing in a facility away from his brothers, for the time being.  As soon as he is better he will return to the large area where the cheetah boys run and play.

The Wilds' carnivore guy is Juston (on the right), he has a million stories to tell of these cats and it is easy to see how much he respects and enjoys the animals- and his job.

"Bolt" and "Cecelia" are Steve's siblings awaiting his recovery in the large grassy compound.  Note the cat walks high above the fenced in area, where tourist can enjoy unhindered views of the mid-sized cats at rest and play.  I am looking forward to returning to the Wilds in the summer, where I can watch the animals at length and hope to get a gander at the new cubs that were born on Halloween!  Go here for the news story.

Going...Wilds!

Each year the Ohio Ornithological Society hosts a winter event that should be called-

"Birders- Gone Wilds!"

We meet up in Muskingham County, 15 or so mile east of Zanesville in the vast acreage of grass lands at the Wilds.  This is a restoration area from the days of strip mining.  The landscape has been drastically changed from the days of hill sides mined for coal to moonscapes replanted in grasses to reduce erosion.  The International Center for the Preservation of Wild Animals, Inc. has become an extension of the Columbus Zoo and a premiere spot for breeding endangered animals. 

 But it is not the endangered animals that attract this crowd.  This is half  of our 100 plus crowd of bird watchers who come each year to see winter grass land birds like Northern Harrier, Rough-legged Hawk, and Short-eared Owls.

 Marc Nolls (above) helps us organize the event each year, while Julie Davis lined up the guides.  We couldn't make this event run without volunteers-  Especially the folks in the field leading trips..

like Kenny Davis!  He takes his job pretty seriously, even working through his lunch hour.

A couple of years ago the OOS Conservation committee worked the Wilds and AEP to install Kestrel boxes and raptor posts throughout the grass land.  It was exciting to see this Rough-legged Hawk teed up just was we had hoped.  There was also a Short-eared Owl perched atop a Kestrel box- barking his little heart out.  But DUH, I missed the shot!

The Wilds event is always a lot of fun and a great opportunity for many birders to see some unusual winter raptors for the first time.  It is one of the many excellent programs OOS has sponsored over the last 8 or so years.  Go to www.ohiobirds.org to learn more about this fine organization and good work we do.

Hope to see you next year at the Wilds!