Nature

[Ikyoto]

It's spring when there are sidewalk hieroglyphs done in colored chalk. These are created by short bipeds who steal spines and leave messes.

[Thumper]

Flickers?

Northern Flicker

When they fly you’ll see a flash of color in the wings – yellow if you’re in the East, red if you’re in the West – and a bright white flash on the rump.

That's usually how I see them pulling down the drive or walking out of the garage: Flying away from me off of the ground with a flash of yellow and a bright white patch on the rump.

[Rommie]

Oh cool! Interesting how I grew up so near you but never heard of them, nor have I seen one.

[Thumper]

Chances are you've seen them, just haven't identified them.

[Swift]

Norther Flicker is the one around Ohio.



They are a type of woodpecker, though they go after ground insects like ants as much as they go digging in trees. A very attractive bird, but very shy. At our old house we'd see them once in a while.

[Thumper]

Spotted the Brown Thrasher over the weekend, also identified a female Red Wing Blackbird. Rufous Sided Towhee made an appearance. Also, a Cooper's Hawk snuck up on the feeders and then appeared to be surprised that there were no birds around. But he sure was pretty.

[Thumper]

We were sitting at a little conference table eating lunch near the windows just a few minutes ago. I could see a hawk circling in the gusting winds. Suddenly, it pulled it's wings back pointed straight down and disappeared in a streak. Before I could jump up and run to the windows it was down in the grass below with a cloud of feathers surrounding it. He got some lunch too. It was a large Cooper's Hawk. After a few minutes, he took it over to his favorite perch.

[SciFiFisher]

We were sitting at a little conference table eating lunch near the windows just a few minutes ago. I could see a hawk circling in the gusting winds. Suddenly, it pulled it's wings back pointed straight down and disappeared in a streak. Before I could jump up and run to the windows it was down in the grass below with a cloud of feathers surrounding it. He got some lunch too. It was a large Cooper's Hawk. After a few minutes, he took it over to his favorite perch.

Nice!

[Thumper]

Kestrel sighting! I don't think I've seen one in years. I used to drive all the time for work. I'd either see one perched on a power wire surveying the right of way below, or they'd be hovering 30 feet in the air looking down for some dinner in the grass center median.

I saw one hovering above the median on the way home yesterday.

[Swift]

Male Kestrels are particularly gorgeous birds. The wildlife center at the park I volunteer at has a "staff" kestrel.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/AmericanKestrel02.jpg

Two jobs ago, I used to see them along the roadside once in a while, just hovering, looking for bugs. I think they particularly like grasshoppers.

[Thumper]

That's usually how I recognize them, hovering in place looking straight down.

[Thumper]

Sitting on the picnic table at dusk Tuesday waiting for the girls to get home, I saw my first bat. He was circling overhead in front of the garage. Yea.

Visited my mower guy Saturday. Swift mentioned viewing Herons earlier. I was a little flustered that I hadn't seen one recently. The woods behind the mower guy must have heron nests. Because they were flying around everywhere.

The frogs in my fish pond are getting more vocal. And there's two confirmed goldfish in there that survived the winter. That always amazes me.

[Swift]

Saw my first green frog, hiking around last Sunday. That area of the National Park is very good for painted turtles and snappers - saw a fair number of painteds sunning themselves, but no snappers yet.

This year is supposed to be the year for the brood of 17 year cicadas in this area. I recall them from 17 years ago - they weren't particularly loud at our old house, but there were parks in that county where they were insane. I'm more than a little curious how they are at the new house. I think I heard the first few on Sunday, which would make them a couple of weeks ahead of schedule (most people are saying May).

The town we live in, Hudson, had a black bear spotting a few miles north of us recently. Black bears are still relatively uncommon in Northeast Ohio, but seem to be slowly growing in numbers. I loved to see one around, and would even be willing to replace a bear-attacked bird feeder. I'm not scared by black bears; as long as you are smart around them, they seem pretty well behaved.

We got a amphib hike on Saturday night (I'm volunteering) and then Sunday I'm volunteering at Lake Metroparks Earth Day event. For a change it isn't supposed to rain or snow for Earth Day - maybe I can take the snow shovel out of the car already... no, probably will wait for May.

[Thumper]

A bear, cool. The last time the cicadas hit around here, Mrs. T and I got a couple of free day passes to the Memorial Golf Tournament. It's in NW Columbus. The little buggers were everywhere. In places you were walking on 1-2 inches of dead bugs. The TV guys had trouble with the sound, the drone of the cicadas drowning out the ambient ad crowd mics. I remember that they were different: smaller and more colorful than the ones we get around here annually. I'll have to check to see if they're expected around here this season.

[Swift]

http://entomology.osu.edu/bugdoc/PerioCicada/CicadaImages/CICOHIOCsm.gif
Map of the different broods in Ohio. Brood V is this year. Columbus should be part of that, but further southwest are other broods.

[Thumper]

http://entomology.osu.edu/bugdoc/PerioCicada/CicadaImages/CICOHIOCsm.gif
Map of the different broods in Ohio. Brood V is this year. Columbus should be part of that, but further southwest are other broods.

Thanks!

The dog and I scared up a few deer in the tree line walking up the drive yesterday afternoon. As we got to the road, I looked for them in the field next to my property. Saw them playing around in the open field, then noticed a big old skunk just wandering around about 40 feet out in the rough grass. Nice. Scared an opossum out of the front yard this morning, and a raccoon out of the back. Yippee.

[Thumper]

This seems to be the year for Red Wing Blackbirds, at least in my area. I see them every year, but so far this season, they've been prolific. Even spied the seldom seen females on multiple occasions.

Wish I was a better birder so I could identify more birds by their call. I was wondering if someone made an app (not that I have a phone that can use an app, but...) like Shazam where you could sample bird calls in the wild and it would compute and tell you what kind of bird it is.

I was outside the church Saturday and a beautiful call came done from the wire across the road. It was an Eastern Bluebird. What a pretty call. I already forgot it.

[Swift]

Wish I was a better birder so I could identify more birds by their call. I was wondering if someone made an app (not that I have a phone that can use an app, but...) like Shazam where you could sample bird calls in the wild and it would compute and tell you what kind of bird it is.

I would love such an app. I'm a mediocre birder by sight and I'm terrible by ear.

The birding app I'm currently using is iBird Pro. I like it, and it does have the calls, but you have pick a bird and then you can play its call, not the other way around.

[Thumper]

Wish I was a better birder so I could identify more birds by their call. I was wondering if someone made an app (not that I have a phone that can use an app, but...) like Shazam where you could sample bird calls in the wild and it would compute and tell you what kind of bird it is.

I would love such an app. I'm a mediocre birder by sight and I'm terrible by ear.

The birding app I'm currently using is iBird Pro. I like it, and it does have the calls, but you have pick a bird and then you can play its call, not the other way around.

Yeah, we look birds up and play their calls on the computer. Mrs. T is going to look for an app for the phone. I'll have her check this one out. Thanks.

[Thumper]

It got quiet again. After a quiet winter, the sounds of spring come in very conspicuously. There are more bird calls in the mornings and evenings, bugs, toads, frogs, etc. Then the last few days, it's been very quiet again. I don't know if it's because of rain or barometric pressure changes, quick drop in temps, or what.

[SciFiFisher]

It got quiet again. After a quiet winter, the sounds of spring come in very conspicuously. There are more bird calls in the mornings and evenings, bugs, toads, frogs, etc. Then the last few days, it's been very quiet again. I don't know if it's because of rain or barometric pressure changes, quick drop in temps, or what.

Predators?

[Thumper]

Oh they're around, but I doubt that would make Everybody go quiet, for days.

[Swift]

http://entomology.osu.edu/bugdoc/PerioCicada/CicadaImages/CICOHIOCsm.gif
Map of the different broods in Ohio. Brood V is this year. Columbus should be part of that, but further southwest are other broods.

For those not following along on Facebook... the cicadas have arrived in force.

Friday early evening I came back from the gym and my wife went for a walk around the neighborhood. To that point, we had not seen or heard a cicada. She came back and said she had seen a couple. We went outside and the ground in front of our house is pock-marked with holes and nymphs are busy climbing our maple tree and morphing into adults. The big emergence was the next 24 hours. As of last night, there were still a few coming up, but the great burst seems to have run out and most are up in the trees, singing their fool little heads off. Sunrise to sunset it sounds like a giant UFO is about to land.

The funny thing is that it is very spotty.... one tree might be covered with adults and the ground around is littered with nymph shells, the next tree has nothing. Even in our own yard, there were a bunch on the front of the house, but almost none around the sides and back.

One neighbor had a hypothesis that it depended on whether the ground had been disturbed in the last 17 years. They had an old oil tank dug out of their yard, and there were no cicadas around that. Interesting idea....

My wife is doing a remarkable job of not freaking out. She is not a big insect fan, but her nature geek side is winning. Except for the moment at a cook-out on Sunday when one almost landed on her as it flew by.

[geonuc]

I don't remember the last time I experienced cicadas. Maybe in Albuquerque in the late 60's. Weird critters.

[Thumper]

We were talking about them yesterday. Saw some friends who live about a half hour south and east of us. They said they had seen and heard them in the last week. We have not seen or heard one as of yet. So waiting patiently. The last time they hit around here, we didn't get any at the house, but up in NW Columbus, they inundated the Memorial Golf tournament. They were inches deep as you walked the paths, and they were flying into everything and everybody. That tournament is again this week, but they're going to have to hurry to make the same impact as last time.