Great day, Saturday April 30, 2011 (worth reading)

Title says it all.  The Hancock County Naturalist had a birding field trip in Oakwoods Nature Preserve on Saturday morning.  While the sun refused to cooperate, the birds did!  In summary, we had at least 54 species, which is decent considering it was still April and it stayed cloudy and blah weather-wise.  Here are some good migrants we observed:
Spotted Sandpiper 2 (Shank Lake)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird chasing a Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Almost too cute and funny to watch!)
Winter Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 20+
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
Northern Parula 3-4 (We never saw any of them, despite wasting a lot of time trying to)
Yellow Warbler 6+
Yelow-rumped Warbler 42
YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER 1 (Fishing Pavilion at Shank Lake)
PRAIRIE WARBLER (same spot)

Palm Warbler 13
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Black-and-White Warbler 1

After the hike, I had to get to work at the parks, which to be honest quickly went to me looking for more birds.
Off of SR568 by the Blanchard River in a flooded field was three or four Greater Yellowlegs and two Willets.  One of the Willets flew while I watched to make i.d. nice and easy. Thank you, Mr. Willet.
Also present was a sizeable flock of Bonaparte's Gulls and one adult LAUGHING GULL.
I have no picture of the Laugher, but it was considerably larger, stouter and darker-backed than the Bonnies present.  Nearly Ring-billed sized (also present).  Wing-tips were solid black, no white as what one would see on a Franklin's Gull.

At the Findlay Reservoirs, the ubiquitous Coots and Lesser Scaup were present in numbers.
Also observed were a few Greater Scaup, Pied-billed Grebes, and these two birds:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but on the right a female Surf Scoter, and the left a female Long-tailed Duck.  Always cool.

Finally I stopped by Litzenberg Memorial Woods west of Findlay and walked parts of the south section.  There I saw Kingbirds, Common Yellowthroat, Louisianna Waterthrush and Swamp Sparrow.

I have yet to do a complete list, but I believe I ended the day in the low eighties for species seen.

Avocets at Findlay Reservoir

Jeff Loughman spotted an American Avocet at the Findlay Reservoirs on the dike between the two reseroirs, around 4PM Thursday.
I spotted this bird and possibly a second early on the foggy Friday morning.
On Sunday morning at dawn, Jeff and I spotted two Avocets flying east along the south dike of #1.  Few other shorebirds were present.

Some Friday morning fog.

Findlay Reservoirs, White-rumped Sandpiper, BB Plover

The gale force winds from Saturday died down enough for Sunday to enjoy a walk out at the Findlay Reservoirs.  It was pretty quiet around 11:30am, but what few things out there made it all worthwhile.

Firstly, there was one, possibly two, White-rumped Sandpipers on the dike between both reservoirs.  I could kick myself; the one allowed me to get within 8 feet at one point.

There was also a Black-bellied Plover on the south dike in the extreme SE corner of #2 (the big one).  Oddly, the bird seemed to be hanging out with a pair of Ring-billed Gulls.

The immature Common Loon that has stayed out there all spring was still present.  Today he was tring out his song.  Very odd to here a loon cry in the middle of a bright, sunny day.  Still nice, though.

In the woods along the Blanchard River on the east side of the reservors, both species of Orioles were present, as well as a very persistently singing Northern Waterthrush.  In both areas, Chimeny Swifts and Barn Swallows were present by the dozens.

Findlay Reservoirs side note

As of Monday, the Findlay Reservoirs were largely ice-covered. #2, the large one, was >98% covered with snow on top, and #1, the small one, was 75-80% iced with one sizeable hole remaining.
This is weeks earlier than our ten year average and also flip-flopped from normal. Typically, #1 freezes first.