Ottawa and Magee (3/17/2). Early this morning the skies were overcast with occasional bouts of snow pellets. By 1:00 P.M., when I arrived at Ottawa, the clouds had partially dispersed, but the sunshine only pushed the temperatures into the low 40's, and when combined with NE winds blowing 15-25 mph, I was forced into winter garb. I birded the west-end of Ottawa from inside the car on Stagne Rd. I saw a red-tailed hawk, a kestrel, horned larks, and seven bald eagles -- one adult and six immature.

I stopped at the nature center at Magee to check the raptor count board. So far, over 200 red-shouldered and over 200 red-tailed hawks have been counted. The board for other bird sightings was not available. I walked a small part of the trail around the pond near the tower and I saw a golden-crowned kinglet. It was the main reason for me stopping there. Two years ago on this weekend I saw GCKs in the same area. I watched today's GCK for quite a while. He was low in a small brushy tree that was next to the trail, so he provided good close looks. I could see the orange stripe inside the yellow patch on his head indicating this bird was a male. On the same trail was a small snake. I didn't go to the top of the tower and talk with the lonely BSBO hawk watcher. Maybe I should have. Except for the local eagles, he was probably birdless.

I drove to the beach to walk the boardwalk. Numerous American coots were along the causeway. At the west entrance of the boardwalk, there's a new wooden deck, two feet high and very large. I'm not sure of its purpose. It's not complete. Maybe it's a tribute to Tom Bartlett and the "big sit" he does each May. A female birder was leaving as I was just getting started. She and the hawk watcher were the only birders I saw today.

About all I could hear on the boardwalk was the roar of Lake Erie's waves crashing onto the beach and the wind howling through the trees. Sometimes it sounded like a passenger plane was coming in for a landing. I can't imagine what it must have been like last Saturday when storm-forced winds ripped through the area, but I could see its remnants. Several limbs and trees -- big and small -- were snapped. A few had damaged the boardwalk since there were new replacement planks in the railings and on the boardwalk itself.

A carolina wren was loud enough for me to hear. I saw an American tree sparrow and a winter wren. An adult bald eagle made a direct fly over at tree-top height. The best sighting from the boardwalk was finding four fox sparrows hanging out together, busy rooting through the leaves for food. A couple of times, all four were in the same field of view.

The fox sparrows did not sing, but they were fun to watch, constantly kicking the leaves behind them. The leaves were deep. Sometime their head was all I could see of the bird. The funny part was watching a male and a female cardinal tagging along with the fox sparrows. I soon found out why. The fox sparrows would clear the leaves, creating a small opening to the ground, and the cardinals would push the sparrows out the the way so they could have access to whatever tasty morsels were available. At one point I watched a female cardinal follow closely behind a fox sparrow who was pushing leaves out of the way as he walked. Fox sparrows are colorful birds with their reddish-brown backs and wings, dark grey patches on the sides of their face, and rust-colored streaks on their white chests. They are birds I hardly ever see, so I watched these for a long time.

While walking on the boardwalk back to the car, I noticed something: everything was grey. The trees were dark grey, the bushes and shrubs were shades of light and dark grey. The leaves on the ground were no longer brown but were primarily light grey. The sky clouded over and became grey. The pond along the boardwalk reflected the color of the sky and was grey too. Except for the new planks, the boardwalk was grey. I saw no green on this St. Patricks day from new weeds or grasses. Without snowcover this has to be the most colorless time of the year. It was both ugly and fascinating at the same time. I never noticed this before. It felt like that doofus Barney Fife had pulled me into Pleasantville.

I headed for home after 3:30 P.M.