Back in the South?

I fell asleep on Sunday night, to the sounds of a GREAT HORNED OWL, which allowed me my longest night's sleep of the trip. After the late start of the morning (10:00am), I headed towards Ohio. I hadn't really looked at the map, and was surprised to find out that my route took me through Maryland and West Virginia. It seems that I'm weaving in and out of the Mason-Dixon, but decided that perhaps a more useful way of dividing our country geographically is the CAROLINA CHICKADEE/BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE line. I think it works out.

I got to the home of Weymouth's own, Lindsay Scott, a little before 8pm last night. Lindsay, her roommate Chase, and I made dinner and watched a movie. I went to bed decently early to get a good start on today.

At about 7am, I got up and headed towards the Hocking Hills, where a few parks are supposedly good for birders. Immediately after arriving at Conkle's Hollow, I came across a HOODED WARBLER. Likely my longest, best look at an adult male. Throughout my walk, I came across several unidentified immature thrushes, which was getting me kind of frustrated. Luckily, an adult HERMIT THRUSH gave me a few good looks with which to identify him.


I then went to Cantwell Cliffs to have a look at their birds. I encountered a pretty big flock of neotropical migrants, many which I was not able to identify in the limited time they were around. I did however, catch long enough glimpses of the BLUE-HEADED VIREO, BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER, and TENNESSEE WARLBER in the pack.


After leave in Cantwell Cliffs, I took a look at the Ohio Rare Bird Alert and realized that I would be choosing to miss out on another opportunity of seeing a NORTHERN WHEATEAR. One has been seen for a few days just north of Columbus. If I decided to check that out, it would be about a 6 hour drive to see one bird. I decided I'll put that gas money towards seeing the wheatear in its natural habitat.