raptors and passerines - I started birding at 9:00 A.M. at the Lake Erie Center. Skies were mostly cloudy; temps were about 60; winds were calm. Around the center I observed: Hermit Thrush, Caspian Tern, White-throated Sparrow, Winter Wren, Junco, 2 Cooper's Hawks, 5 Sharpies, Wood Ducks, Golden-crowned Kinglet, 1 Broadwing Hawk, Field Sparrow, Brown Thrasher, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Swamp Sparrow, 1 Turkey Vulture. I quit birding here around 10:15. Since I saw so many raptors, I decided to visit the sledding hill at Maumee Bay State Park.

I first went to the MBSP nature center to use the bathroom. There were at least five Purple Martins hanging around the plastic gourds by the nature center. I was on the hill by 10:30. There were eight Amish birders on the hill, counting hawks. They all had scopes, and they were good at spotting birds. Their IDing was a little agressive. They seemed to be in competition with each other to try and be the one to find that rare raptor. At one point, several of the Amish thought a Golden Eagle was coming towards us. I was paying no attention. They were spotting birds way out there, and I figured I would wait until it passed us. Finally, one of the Amish asked me if I wanted to see the Golden Eagle. I faked surprise, and turned down looking through his scope, and focused on the big bird coming our way with my binos. We had been looking at a lof Sharpies and Broadwings, so a good-sized raptor would look huge. I watched the bird get close, and I noticed a lot of white underneath the bird. I then saw a big spot in the carpal area of each wing. I didn't say anything. The Amish corrected themselves and said it was a Rough-legged Hawk. Still a nice sighting.

Another time, one of the Amish called out Falcon, but he changed it to a Cooper's Hawk. Later, a small Falcon went blitzing by us, and at first glance I was sure it was going to be a Merlin, because of its speed. Through the binos, I got a flash of reddish brown on the back of the bird, so I knew it was Kestrel. Some Amish continued to watch the bird through their scopes when it was west of us, and they decided it was a Merlin afterall. A young Amish dude asked me if I saw the falcon, and I said yes, it was a Kestrel. That's what he thought too. Merlins don't have that reddish brown color that shows up well in the sun.

Anyway, it was a good morning for raptors from the sledding hill. When I got there at 10:30, the winds were from the east-southeast. Just before Noon, the winds shifted from the northeast, and it felt like someone cranked up the air conditioner. The temperature dropped several degrees. Lake Erie is only in the 40's. This wind shift also slowed down the raptor sightings, which is why I left at 1:00 P.M., because there was little action after 12:30. Still, in the 2 1/2 hours I was there, I saw 11 species of raptors: 35 Sharp-shinned, 9 Cooper's, 32 Red-tailed, 75 Broadwing, 7 Harrier, 1 Rough-legged, 27 Turkey Vulture, 2 Red-shouldered, 3 Osprey, 3 Kestrel, and 4 Bald Eagle. Those are the raptors I saw. There were more I didn't see, because there was so much action, I couldn't keep up with all of it. Plus, the birds were high. We had a lone Sandhill Crane go by too. This was probably my best spring raptor day in northwest Ohio.

I was on the boardwalk at Magee by 1:45. There I observed: Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Towhee, Winter Wren, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, White-throated Sparrow, Pine Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-throated Vireo, Swamp Sparrow, and House Wren.