Hi folks,

Got back this week from a genealogical adventure into the wilds of Ohio.
Marty, the kids, and I spent a lot of time in the Lancaster, Zanesville and
Coshocton libraries and cemeteries, trying to look up and visit dead
relatives. We did spend some time walking nature trails, canoeing along the
Hocking River, etc., but I never got any birding in at daybreak. Usually,
by 9am, it was hot and humid enough that the birds had all gone to roost...
so I didn't get any *serious* birding done.

But it was fun, in any event. I was completely chagrined that I was so
ignorant in a foreign country; I didn't recognize the bird calls, the trees,
the flowers, or the restaurant menus. I did spend a lot of time pushing
through the poison ivy and greenbrier to try to figure out the calls of the
cardinals, red-eyed vireos, indigo buntings, and mockingbirds. Heck, even
the song sparrows had funny accents... We finally found the Dawes Arboretum
near Newark on our last evening in Ohio - I wish we'd known about it
earlier, as we were clueless about things as common as sugar maples.

Places that I did get a chance to visit and bird, that I'd recommend to
whomever else might go out east would include the Shallenberger Nature
Preserve (wooded 'knobs' just south of Lancaster on Hwy 22 with trails).
The Hocking Hills have a lot of outdoor recreation, including the 'Old Man's
Cave' State Park (trails through the deciduous and hemlock/pine woods), as
well as a number of canoe 'liveries' with reasonable rental rates. The Clear
Creek valley runs through some unglaciated area with outcrops of sandstone
along the stream and riparian area; I didn't spend nearly enough time in
this area between Lancaster and Logan. The Clear Creek valley has about
3,000 acres owned by the Metro Park District. The Dawes Arboretum, between
Zanesville and Columbus, was a good place to have the trees of the area
identified for a west-coast 'pilgrim', and has what they think is the
northernmost bald cypress swamp in the country. Lots of history and natural
history to be found in that area, as well as good music at the Lancaster
2000 music festival.

The best chicken I've ever had in a restaurant was at Clark's, in
Jacksontown - west of Zanesville.... (shameless plug)

Here's a list of the few birds I saw & heard ('life birds' capitalized...):

Green Heron - close views (10 feet away...) of these feeding on minnows in
the Hocking R
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret - on a gravel bar in the Muskingum R at Coshocton
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard - including a hen with three 3-day old ducklings at Coshocton
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk - Lancaster
Cooper's Hawk - Lancaster and Newark
Red-shouldered Hawk - Dawes Arboretum
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Wild Turkey - freshly-molted feathers at Shallenberger
Killdeer
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove - ubiquitous
Passenger Pigeon - mounted in a case at Gen Sherman's birthplace....
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - heard at Shallenberger
Black-billed Cuckoo
Common Nighthawk
Chimney Swift - I've never seen more swifts in my life as I did in any town
in Ohio... There were hundreds going into the chimney at the Masonic Hall in
Lancaster...
RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD - Hey, I'd never before seen one....
Belted Kingfisher - Hocking River
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-shafted Flicker
Hairy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Wood Pewee
ACADIAN FLYCATCHER - their calls sound *a lot* like Pacific-slope
Flycatchers
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Kingbird
WHITE-EYED VIREO - Shallenberger Preserve
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo - Ubiquitous
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Purple Martin
Barn Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird - in every cemetery....
Wood Thrush
Hermit Thrush - Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills - slightly different accent
from ours
American Robin
Gray Catbird
N. Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
KENTUCKY WARBLER - Old Man's Cave; a male feeding either a young bird or a
female
Ovenbird
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
EASTERN TOWHEE - first I've seen since the taxonomic split...
Field Sparrow - Lancaster area
Chipping Sparrow - Ubiquitous
Song Sparrow
Cardinal - also everywhere
Indigo Bunting - common
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow - more than I'm used to seeing back here

I missed a lot of birds that I'm sure were there. One of my target birds
was a Whip-Poor-Will, but I guess that I have an incentive to go out east
again!

Mammals seen included white-tailed deer, eastern chipmunks, eastern gray
squirrel, fox squirrel, woodchuck, muskrats, and the usual road-killed
'coons, 'possums and skunks. We saw lots of soft-shelled turtles while
canoeing the Hocking, Eastern box turtles on 'most all of the little back
roads, and painted turtles in the ponds. A few garter snakes, but no other
snakes seen, although a fisherman along the Ohio & Erie Canal segment at
Coshocton warned me about copperheads! There were shells of the large,
heavy fresh-water 'mother-of-pearl' mussels in the Hocking and Muskingum
rivers; I didn't see any Zebra mussels. And - a bazillion dragonflies, most
of which appeared to be varieties that I'd never seen before (Ruth, I needed
your experience!!). The kids had the experience of chasing fireflies, just
like kids in all of the 'eastern' literature. Lots of Pennsylvanian-age
shell fossils in the Coshocton area.

I want to thank all of the Tweeters who emailed me with tips and must-visit
locations, and Frank for the copy of Tom Thompson's 'Birding in Ohio' book.
It helped make our vacation that much better!

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net