APRIL ACTIVITY

DATE: Saturday, APRIL 14^th, 2007

ACTIVITY: Perkins Wildlife Garden Tour

TIME: 9:00 a.m.

PLACE: Mentor Lagoons in Mentor

Harvey Webster will lead Blackbrook Audubon on a tour of the Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Garden at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History at 9 AM on Saturday, April 14^th. You can then see the T rex named Sue exhibit or visit John James Audubon: American Artist and Naturalist at your leisure the remainder of the day. Unlike other Blackbrook field trips, we will need to pay admission and parking. We can get a discounted group rate, but you need to email blackbrookaud@aol.com or call Mary Ann at 216-520-8800 or 440-255-0961 now!

MAY ACTIVITY

DATE: WEEKEND, of MAY 18^th to MAY 20^th

ACTIVITY: Our Annual Birdathon

TIME: 5 pm Friday to 5 pm Sunday

PLACE: Anywhere in Northeast Ohio !!

Please join us for Birdathon 2007. It will run from 5:00 p.m. May 18 through 5:00 p.m. May 20. It’s easy and it’s fun.

All you have to do is grab a friend or two (or you can bird alone if you prefer). Sign up some of your family and other friends to sponsor you. Or you can just sponsor yourself. Then see how many different species of birds you can see in a 24 hour period (or any part of a 24 hour period) during the above weekend. You can watch your bird feeder, travel Lake and Geauga Co. or head to Western Ohio. Collect your pledges and then turn the money in to Blackbrook. We will use it to sponsor Audubon Adventures for classrooms in Lake and Geauga Counties.

If you would like to join an existing team, please see me at the April or May program meeting and I will try and connect you up with someone. Or call me at (440) 257-1090 or e-mail angydy@earthlink.net.

We will meet at Veteran’s Park in Mentor at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evening to tally our counts and see how many species we saw as a group. Last year’s total was 134 species if I remember correctly, so this year’s goal will be 135. And if there is more than one person or team counting species at their feeder, we will do a separate feeder tally.

Directions to Veteran’s Park. Take Rt. 2 to the Center Street exit. Head North. Continue going straight through several traffic lights and two stop signs. After the second stop sign, the road name changes from Center Street to Hopkins. Just continue straight ahead. The park entrance will be on your left a short distance after the second stop sign. If you see Shore Junior High School, you went too far.

DATE: TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 2007

ACTIVITY: Our Annual Potluck Picnic

PLACE: Lakeshore Reservation in Perry

TIME: Gather beginning at 6:00 p.m. We will

begin eating around 6:30 p.m.

Come and join us for our annual potluck picnic. We haven’t visited the Eastern part of the county in a while, so we decided to hold this year’s picnic at Lakeshore Reservation. We will be at the picnic shelter at the west end of the park.

Everyone (including children) is welcome. Bring a friend if you would like. As usual, Blackbrook will have beverages (bottled water, ice tea and lemonade or maybe something hot if the weather is cool) available. Please bring your own place setting and of course a dish to share. After dinner we will take a walk to see what we can find.

If you know in advance you will be coming, sign up at the April or May meeting so if the weather doesn’t happen to cooperate and we have to postpone it, we can let you know and save you the trip out there. Or if you find you can attend at the last minute and the weather is iffy call Nancy at 257-1090 or Mary Ann at 255-0961 to check.

If anyone wants to share a ride, contact us at the above numbers and we will try to match drivers and passengers.

We hope to see you there.

DIRECTIONS: From the west: Take Rt. 2 East to where it merges with Rt. 20. Continue east about 4.5 miles to Antioch Rd. Turn Left (North). Continue north for about 1.5 miles. Antioch Road dead ends at Lockwood Rd. opposite the park entrance. When you enter the park, turn left to the west parking lot and we will be in the picnic shelter. From the East, take Rt. 20 to Antioch Rd. and continue as above.

Spring Bird Walks:

Just like every year, spring is here again and so is the annual cycle of the “Spring Birds Walks”! For six weeks, we go out every Sunday, rain or shine, and find and count all the migrating birds we can see. And you can join us at a number of various locations throughout the whole Cleveland area. Here in Lake and Geauga Counties, there are “Spring Birds Walks” in six different locations that you can go on! These walks are always held on the last 3 Sundays in April and the first 3 Sundays in May! And they always start at 7:30 a.m. on those Sunday mornings! This year, 2007, they will be on April 15^th, 22^nd, and the 29^th; and in May on the 6^th, 13^th, and 20^th.

Blackbrook’s “Spring Bird Walk” is at [1] Mentor Marsh where we meet at the Zimmerman Trail Parking Lot on Headlands Road, ¼ mile West of the entrance to Headlands Beach State Park. This is at the northern end of SR 44 in Grand River, Ohio.

The other five local “Spring Bird Walks” are at: [2] Geauga Park District (they visit different parks each Sunday; call them at (440) 286-9504 for more info); [3] Holden Arboretum has their “Spring Birds Walk” at the Main Entrance or at [4] Lantern Court (call them at (440) 946-4400 for more info); [5] Lake Metroparks’ hold theirs at Penitentiary Glen ; and finally, Cleveland Metroparks holds one at [7] North Chagrin Reservation (and they also hold other “Spring Birds Walks” in other parks throughout the whole Cleveland region.

Beginners are more than welcome!! The Leaders and other birders are more than willing to help you I.D. the birds and welcome you to the joys of Birding! And now that you know where they meet, you don’t even need to call; just show up and look for the folks with the Binoculars!!

FROM the DESK of the PRESIDENT

by Mary Ann Wagner

maryannelizebeth@aol.com

As my term of office as Blackbrook Audubon president comes to an end, I want to thank all of you for your patience, support, advice, ideas, comments, generosity of time and donations, participation, and most of all, for allowing me this opportunity. When Joe Pedone approached me in 2004 to encourage me to run for president of Blackbrook, I think he saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. I compared myself to a duck. I may appear to be skimming effortlessly across the pond, but under the surface, I’m paddling like crazy!

I said I was too busy. I work and need to take care of the house and yard and juggle my other volunteer projects with family obligations. Like everyone else, I learned to prioritize and do the most important things first, etc. The difficulty arises when there are multiple number one priorities. And sometimes the nonessential things never do get done!

I’m not a particularly good birder, nor can I identify all the trees and plants and butterflies, but I know some of them and I’m always learning. Someone will always know more than I do and there will always be more to learn.

But I do enjoy meeting and talking to people and hopefully have made you feel welcome at Blackbrook’s programs and events. We need people to attend and enjoy themselves and be glad they came. Otherwise, what’s the point? We could have all stayed home and read a book or watched TV. I do think the more active your participation, the greater the enjoyment (or is it relief at having been part of a successful endeavor?).

Blackbrook has many opportunities for you to participate in volunteer projects like the IBA monitoring; attending or leading programs and field trips; bringing cookies or snacks to share at programs; folding newsletters or helping distribute them to libraries; volunteering for “booth duty” at local nature festivals; working with scout troops; sharing program ideas and giving us feedback on how we’re doing. Not everyone is qualified or has the time or interest to do everything, but it’s OK to do a little bit. Sometimes you just need a little encouragement.

Mentor was first in the state of Ohio and second in the nation for the second year in a row in the Great Backyard Bird Count. This year’s GBBC was held February 16 to 18. Mentor submitted 372 checklists with 62 species and 6,014 individual birds. Mentor’s most commonly observed species was the Canada goose with 1,531 individual birds. The American crow (482), mallard duck (459) and northern cardinal (433) rounded out the top four. Unusual sightings were bald eagles, snowy owls and wild turkeys. I’ve seen a bald eagle flying over my street and at the Mentor Lagoons a year or so ago. We can ask Harvey Webster about that when he does our Blackbrook program on bald eagles in May.

Blackbrook Board Election Notice

The election for the Blackbrook Board of Directors will be held at our April program. The nominees were announced at our March program. They are:

President Nancy Dilgren

Vice President Jim McConnor

Treasurer Barbara Shuter

Secretary Mary Ann Wagner

Your participation in the election is encouraged. The newly elected officers will begin their one-year terms on July 1, 2007.

IBA BIRD WALKS: We would like to thank everyone who participated in the monitoring project at Lake Metroparks, Chagrin River Park. We saw many wonderful and unique birds that live or visit the park. The project will end on March 25, 2007 with our last walk! All data will be sent to Lake Metroparks and Audubon Ohio for potential land management and historical records.

GREAT NEWS!

Blackbrook Audubon has decided to take on another monitoring project. We will be collecting data on the Birds that live or visit Geauga Park District, Big Creek. We will be conducting two Bird Walks there every month! These walks will take place on the 2nd and 4th Sundays (at 8 A.M.) of every month. Everyone who is interested in lending their eyes and ears, meet at the Meyers Visitor Center at 9160 Robinson Rd, Chardon Township. The first Bird Walk there will be on Sunday, May 13^th.

Wildlife Center Collection

Blackbrook’s collection of goods for the Kevin P. Clinton Wildlife Center was very successful. We brought several rolls of paper towels, bleach and cleaning products, peroxide, rubbing alcohol and medical supplies, many bags of old bath and dish towels, a nylon dog leash, suet cakes and large bags of sunflower seed and many other miscellaneous items to our February meeting.

Some Blackbrook members collected items with their coworkers. If you weren’t able to attend the February meeting (or forgot to bring the donation with you!), the Wildlife Center is located at the Lake Metropark’s Penitentiary Glen. It is open 7 days a week from 9 AM to 5 PM. Thank you to everyone for your participation and generosity.

Summer Field Trips:

July

We enjoyed our trip to Guy Denny’s prairie so much last year; we are pleased to have been invited back. The folks from the Burrough’s Nature Club in Willoughby will join us for our personal tour at 10 AM on Saturday, July 7^th.

The prairie has something for everyone – birds, butterflies (one year I saw an American Snout!) and, of course, the prairie plants. After our tour last year, Guy let us drive our cars on the paths along the prairie perimeter, although the low profile vehicle drivers opted out.

It will take approximately 2 hours to reach Fredericktown, and we’ll coordinate rides for those who want to share the gasoline expense. Email blackbrookaud@aol.com or call Mary Ann at 440-255-0961 or Cheryl at 440-974-5451 after June 15^th for driving directions and to RSVP.

August

We’ve also been invited back to The Bat Farm in Geauga County. Tracey Knierim will be at Blackbrook’s May program at West Woods to tell us a brief history of the farm and how she came to be known as The Bat Lady.

Last year Murphy’s Law kicked in and Blackbrook visited The Bat Farm too late in the season. (The majority of the bats left for their migration grounds the night before we got there.) This year, we are hoping to see large numbers of bats in flight. We will meet at the farm at 8 PM on Saturday, August 11^th. We are welcome to bring folding chairs and cameras. Visitors with special needs are allowed to park their vehicles closer to the barn than the general parking area. Email blackbrookaud@aol.com or call Mary Ann at 440-255-0961 after July 15^th for driving directions and to RSVP.

SPRING WILDFLOWERS:

by A. Fjeldstad

Spring Wildflowers are ‘ephemerals‘ -- that is, they only last for a brief time. Some (like Bloodroot and Dutchman’s Breeches) bloom for only a day! Others (like Trilliums and Geraniums) can last a number of days or even a week or two. So, unlike the other flowers that we grow in our yards, Spring Wildflowers have to flower, be pollinated, and set seed in a very brief time. If you want to see them, you have to take the time to walk in the parks every few days in April and May of each year. If you don’t do that, you don’t see them! So every year you should go out regularly to see one of the first signs of spring -- the Spring Wildflowers!!

And some of the best places to see them around here are Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, North Chagrin Reservation and Hach-Otis State Nature Preserve in Willoughby Hills, Hogback Ridge in Madison, Indian Point in Leroy, Big Creek Park in Chardon, and West Woods in Russell. A wonderful place for Wildflowers that is somewhat farther away is Eagle Creek State Nature Preserve down in Nelson in Portage County.

Of course, any local park (like Veterans Park or Mentor Lagoons in Mentor) has some Spring Wildflowers. And if you only have a few minutes, you can and should go there and see a dozen or more species, depending how closely you look. And to help you do this, we’ve included a short Checklist of the Spring Wildflowers you might find.

WHITE FLOWERS

___ Bloodroot

___ Dutchman’s Breeches

___ Foamflower

___ Hepaticas (2 kinds)

___ Mayapple

___ Canada Mayflower

___ Miterwort

___ Ramps, only leaves now!

___ Rue-Anemone

___ False Solomon’s Seal ( “Solomon’s Plume”)

___ Spring Beauty (2 kinds, Virginia & Carolina )

___ Spring Cress

___ Squirrel Corn

___ Toothworts (2 kinds, Cut Leaf & Two Leaf )

___ Trilliums (2 kinds, Large Flowered &

Drooping T. )

___ Violets, White (5 kinds)

RED FLOWERS

___ Wild Columbine

___ Purple Cress

___ Wild Geranium

___ Wild Ginger

___ Red Trillium

YELLOW FLOWERS

___ Bellworts (3 kinds)

( Large Flower, Bellwort, & Sessile )

___ Buttercups (5 kinds)

( Tall, Bulbous, Creeping, Hispid, & Swamp )

___ Coltsfoot

___ Marsh Marigold

___ Solomon’s Seal (3 kinds)

( Great, Hairy, & Smooth )

___ Trout Lily

___ Yellow Violets (4 kinds)

BLUE FLOWERS

___ Virginia Bluebells

___ Bluets

___ Blue Phlox

___ Blue Violets (12 kinds)

GREEN/BROWN FLOWERS

___ Cattails ( 2 kinds)

___ Blue Cohosh

___ Jack-in-the-Pulpit

___ Skunk Cabbage

Birding Basics:

By Anders Fjeldstad

We in Blackbrook Audubon have been asked occasionally if we teach “Bird Watching Classes”. Well, while we do lead the Spring Birdwalks at Mentor Headlands State Park [Ed.: See article elsewhere in this issue] and we do some teaching as we lead, we don’t hold or teach any formal classes. But it may have escaped your notice that the local Park Systems and Holden Arboretum DO have formal classes that DO teach Birdwatching. Unfortunately for you, these classes are usually held in the beginning of the year (January, February, and March) and by now (April or May) are all over for the year. At the end of this year (like around Christmas), why don’t you check out one of their Schedules and sign up for one of these fine classes. They are taught by some of the best local birders. Though they usually charge a few dollars (just so you show up!), they are well worth it since you’ll learn all those tricks it took us years to learn!

If you feel the need to learn NOW, there are a couple things you can do. First, you can pick up one of the many books that teach Birdwatching like “Bird Watching for Dummies” ( ignore the title, this is one of a whole series of ’Dummies’ books from which you can learn most anything easily and cheaply ). This one was written by Bill Thompson III, the Editor of “Bird Watcher’s Digest”, the wonderful little magazine with lots of good articles about Bird Watching, of course, which you might pick up in the local bookstore or even take out of the Library. As for the book, it too, is at the book store and might be in the Library, but Amazon sells it for a lot cheaper than the list price of $20. In almost 400 pages, the author gives a lot of good advice on all the things you need to know about bird watching, often done in a very humorous way. Recommended!

If you feel you’re going to get more serious about Bird Watching, David Sibley has another book besides his fabulous field guides. This one’s called “Sibley’s Birding Basics”. Don’t confuse it with any of his three field guides, or his “Sibley Guide Bird Life and Behavior”. The Birding Basics book is almost 200 pages and has the compact size of the smaller field guides. It is a great introduction to Bird Watching and teaches you and other beginning birders what you need to know to identify birds using song and behavior, color and size, as well as habitat and area of the country. Highly recommended.

Secondly, you can also go online and go to the National Audubon web site and check out their section on “Birding Basics“! It provides many useful tips for new birders --- including on how to buy Binoculars, how to select and buy Field Guides, where to look for birds, and how to get involved with Birding Projects (such as Great Backyard Bird Counts, Christmas Birds Counts, etc.). You can visit this site at www.audubon.org.

Learning to watch birds is a self learning process and these two books and any of the many available web sites will get you going down that road to learning the birds. It is an activity that can be enjoyed for many years and in many places! Get out and enjoy!

Start Looking at Gulls this Summer:

“ Since the time of A.B. Williams writing, the number of species of gulls known to frequent the region has nearly doubled. With 19 gull species occurring in the last 20 years, the Cleveland region does not take a back seat to any site in North America when it comes to gull diversity. The sheer numbers of these birds along Lake Erie can be staggering. Gulls are great wanderers, and many species are sought after because of the regularity of their occurrences in the Great Lakes. The warm water outlets along Lake Erie often provide remarkable gull watching in the winter. ”

So says LARRY ROSCHE in his recent book “BIRDS OF THE CLEVELAND REGION” (a book which all of you birders and want-to-be birders should have!). Published in 2004, this 187 page book is an indispensable asset to any and all who bird in the ‘Cleveland Region’ (which is defined as Lake, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Lorain, Medina, Summit, and Portage Counties).

BONUS SPRING BIRD WALK:

SPRING DISCOVERY WALK

Birdwatching has become one of the most popular forms of recreation in
the United States. In Mentor, you can learn how to look for birds in
one of Ohio's most pristine habitats. Expect to see spring migrants as
well as local resident birds. Bring binoculars and a field guide if
you own one. This walk, led by Jim McConnor, Vice President of the
Blackbrook Audubon Society, is geared to teach new birdwatchers, but
welcomes experienced watchers.

Meet at the Trailhead of the Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve & Marina.
Saturday, April 28th, 7:30-9:30 a.m.

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BLACKBROOK AUDUBON SOCIETY

PO Box 1306

Mentor, OH 44060-1306

Mary Ann Wagner - President

UPCOMING EVENTS

Wildlife Center Collection

Mentor, OH 44060-1306

Bruce Roberts - Editor