View Larger Image

Springtime Birding on Lake Erie | Letter From Home

Good Afternoon Everyone,

We have received quite a lot of rain recently and the ground seems to be well-watered. The lawns are very lush and green, but need to be mown rather frequently. The flowers this Spring have been beautiful because of the wonderful growing weather.

The rows of peas are looking good in the garden and so do the cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli plants. There was a big change in the plants from the time I left for vacation to when I came back 3 days later.

Farmers are cutting and baling first cutting of hay. It gets wrapped in plastic for later use. It would be difficult to get hay to dry in the fields with all the moisture we are getting.

On June 1^st there will be a benefit auction at Willing Hearts Workshop and Day-Care Center on Moreland Rd. It benefits children and adults with special needs.

Events in Mt. Hope include:
-Memorial Trotting Sale – May 24^th -Kidney Fund Benefit Auction – May 31^st -Summer Carriage and Pony Sale – June 6^th -Summer Draft Horse Sale – June 7^th -Special Lamb Sale – June 13^th

For my vacation I spent time birding at Lake Erie. We were at Maggee, Metzger & Howard Marsh. We saw woodland song birds, waterfowl, shorebirds, eagles, hawks, even an owl. Our total count seen or heard was 130. The count for warblers was 22. It was good but not the best year we’ve had. Since our spring has been so warm the leaves on the trees were so big it was a challenge to find the songbirds.

A few of the highlights were the Golden-Winged Warbler and the Olive-sided Flycatcher. We saw 3 nests of the Black-necked Stilts.