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Bird Watching

Balloons Are Killer

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Stop Releasing Balloons!

Love Wildlife? The Stop With the Balloons.

You change the world with every small decision you make.

I give my kids a lot but one thing I refuse to buy is balloons. Want to know why?

This is why….

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Click HERE to read the article by the The Dodo of CINCINNATI Police Officers James Givens and Cecilia Charron freeing a gosling from a mylar balloon and string.

Like many outdoorsy people, I’ve personally seen the damage that a simple balloon can cause. There is even an organization to fight balloon releases BalloonsBlow.org.

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As you have seen by now, balloons don’t have to be released in massive releases to cause problems.

Please make a small inconsequential change and stop using balloons all together.

Oh, and if you are wondering about the kids being traumatized by not having balloons? They were a bit sad that Mean Mom wouldn’t acquiesce but that changed the first time we cleaned balloons out of the woods and then picked balloons and their ribbons up from the shoreline of our favorite park.

Balloon Release
This is just the handful of balloons I found, popped, and disposed of properly at Mt. Airy Forest!

Best Spring Hikes

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Hiking Trails Around the Cincinnati Area — Sort of

Spring is such a  wonderful season.

Especially after a winter that just doesn’t want to go away.

You’re itching to hit the trail and see some spring wildflowers – heck at this point you’ll be thrill with a green leaf!

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HikeCincy’s Top Spring Hiking Trails are…

(drum roll, please)

  1. Cincinnati Nature Center — Rowe Woods is super hard to beat. Great trails that are clearly marked and well maintained. Grab a map and spend the day wandering around and checking out the vast variety of wildflowers. Wanting to burn off some of that …err…winter weight… Trek up the Far Ridge Trail! Dutchman's britches or breeches
  2. Germantown MetroPark — The trails with Five Rivers MetroParks are all looped based trails. This means if you start on the Orange Trail you’ll eventually get back where you started. For example, if you are on the Orange Trail and then get on the Pink Trail the Pink Trail will reconnect with the Orange Trail. You just have to know your cardinal directions or look at the map.germantown
  3. Cox Arboretum — Flower freaks. I love going here. Your eyes will love it too. There is a mini Monet bridge, gardens for just about anything including butterflies, a massive tower, oh and lots of trails!Cox_winter hike_tree tower (6)
  4. Wilderness Trail, Buzzardroost & Adams Lake SNP — Adams County has the corner on the market for geologically interesting trails. Whether you a climbing through the rocky bits of The Wilderness Trail, looking out across the landscape from the high point of Buzzardroost or checking out the Allegheny Mound Ants at Adams Lake State Nature Preserve — you’ll love it.
  5. Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge — Bird much? Then this is your home away from home. Muscatatuck NWR has water impoundments that managers can raise and lower the water levels in. This means if you like shorebirds, wading birds, waterfowl, or birds of prey such as eagles and osprey — you are going to be one happy hiker!  Oh, and don’t worry if it rains — the birds don’t!1-DSCN3389Follow on Facebook.

What do Herons do When it Rains?

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On a recent trek to Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, the weather prediction was a slight chance of rain. Ha! Ha HA! Right….Good one!

On the drive in, I passed several cars heading out. Yippie! I thought. I’ll have the place all to myself.

Now, I must say I wasn’t hiking in this heavy thunderstorm because I don’t have a death wish but I did use my vehicle to protect me from the raging storm and get some great photos of wildlife. So while you can use the sound of rain to dampen the noises you make in the woods, if there is thunder you need to hightail it back to the safety of your vehicle or a building.

In the middle of the deluge, I decided to drive around and see which animals were using the controlled water units. These are man-made wetlands that the water level is strategically controlled to benefit certain species of waterfowl and shorebirds. I didn’t even get to these units before I spotted the heron.

Every wonder what wildlife does in a thunderstorm?

1-DSCN3389 This great blue heron was sitting on a stump in the middle of Stanfield Lake. It stayed there throughout the driving rain, lightning, and massive thunder.

 

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It even grabbed a bite to eat!  Of course, the fish went down faster than my shutter!

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That little sort of black smudge on the right side and about half way up is the heron. When the rain died down, the heron flew to the wood line in the distance.

And, that folks is what at least what one great blue heron does during the thunderstorm.

If you’d like to read a good book to your kids about herons checkout Henry the Impatient Heron. We picked up our copies at Books By the Banks. This annual event is a blast. The kids will have plenty to do and you bookworms will be able to meet and greet some of your favorite authors and possibly discover some new ones! Books by the Banks is coming up October 12, 2013.

Peregrines

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It never ceases to amaze me that there are peregrine falcons living in major downtown areas. Today, the girls and I went to see a peregrine falcon banding.

The reason the birds are banded is for identification and monitoring purposes. The bands are pretty close to clunky bracelets but don’t interfere with the falcons ability to survive.

At three weeks of age the legs of the young birds have stopped growing in width so the federal and state identification bands can be put on their legs without causing any problems.

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If fact, that is my daughter helping Diana Malas, the wildlife biologist put a band on one of the birds.

While the banding is happening inside, the adults are outside (thank goodness) are none to happy with having their young taken from the nest. The two adult birds are both unbanded which means there is no history on where the birds are from or their age. This is a bit different than usual because most peregrines that find their way to Ohio cities are banded.

The bands have a letter number combination on a varied colored band. This combination of letters, numbers, and color coding makes it easier for wildlife biologist to identify the adult birds via the use of a spotting scope and an appreciable amount of patience.

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The Cincinnati nest isn’t online due to a few factors (no available wiring or wifi–that is unless someone wants to make a donation) but there are other nests in the state that you can watch here is the link to the list.

If you’d like to learn more about the birds click here.

~~ Oh, and my young biologist reports that the young’s feathers are super soft and fluffy. Just in case you were wondering.

Bird Banding and Watching

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As I mentioned in the last post, the biologists collected data from the birds that were captured.

This little downy woodpecker was not happy with being handled and spent a fair amount of his time letting the room know. At one point he also latched onto the fragile bit of skin on the inside of the biologist’s finger.

Give birding a whirl, there are several good guides for identifying birds such as the Peterson Filed Guides and Audubon Guide to North American Birds.

One of my other favorite id books is  The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America (Stokes Field Guides). It is perfect for gaining a better understanding of the bird’s behavior which gives a little be of insight on what and why the birds do what they do.

 

On a side note:

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I am always so happy when I meet people who are so enthralled with nature. They are such joyful souls and talking to them about nature and the great outdoors is like taking a ride on a roller-coaster–fun, exciting, and adventuresome.

The biologists at Germantown were so excited to share their love of ornithology. They happily answered the audiences questions and gave mini-dossiers  on each species of bird that was captured.