The Ridges

The Ridges
Athens, OH 45701
September 8, 2012

 7:30am
Weather conditions were not promising when we first arrived at the loading dock.  At about 20 degrees Celsius, rain was falling on and off with a grey overcast.  The overcast becomes a problem when trying to discern detail both with the naked eye and with binoculars.  Yet, we clamored into the bus and headed toward the Hocking River.  We stopped in two different spots along the river adjacent to Richland Bridge.

8:00am
At the first stop, we immediately spotted 3 killdeer on the sand bar in the middle of the river.  These were immediately recognizable to me due to the black stripes on the upper breast heavily contrasted by the white feathers around it.  Soon after, a green heron was spotted nearby the killdeer.  A classmate spotted one great blue heron down on the opposite side of the river.  The heron didn't seem to move throughout the duration of our stay; he was sitting on a sand bar.  We moved about a quarter mile down the river in the opposite direction of the heron and noticed one spotted sandpiper.  This bird is recognizable by its characteristic pumping of the tail upwards and downwards constantly.  There were a flock of about 7 morning doves flying above us at one point, but it was difficult for me to get a good view of them through the binoculars.  Two more great blue herons were on a sand bar, but almost immediately flew off further down the river.  Finally, we noticed a blue jay flying right before we left the location.

8:15
We arrived at the cemetery at the Ridges.  The first animals we noticed were deer; there were about 5 of them on the edge of the woods.   We noticed two American robins in the trees towards the edge of the cemetery.  After moving closer down to the pond area, we had much more success.  We saw Carolina chickadees, nothern male cardinals, and a black footed green warbler.  There were a few downy woodpeckers.  These are distinct from piliated wood peckers because they have a smaller beak.  We also noticed juvenile east blue birds that were molting out of their juvenile plumage.  The silhouette is characterized by wings extended and a fanned tail.  The most exciting bird for me to see was the red bellied wood pecker, characterized by a red crown.  We also heard calls of a white breasted nut hatch and a common yellow throat.  Clouds began to roll in and created a heavy darkness in the sky, so our field trip ended there.

Overall, this trip gave me a good introduction to bird watching.  I need to get used to using the binoculars more efficiently and become well adapted to using the field guide.  I can only hope that our next trip will grant us better viewing conditions so that I can get a better detailed view of the birds in the wild.