White Pelican at Funk, and great birding at Wooster Memorial Park

White Pelican at Funk, and great birding at Wooster Memorial Park
                        
After the excitement of seeing Whimbrels at Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area, it seemed worth another trip to see what else might be coming through. I arrived late the next afternoon and there were still at least 60 shorebirds in the wet field on the north side of SR 95 east of Funk. Parking in one of the small pull-offs, I was searching through the Semipalmated Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers when I turned around to look south across the wildlife area. To my great surprise, a White Pelican was flying low over the wetlands. It kept on flying, circling higher and then headed straight north and out of sight. Well, that was lucky. I was only sorry that the bird didn’t stay around. I went back to looking at the shorebirds. Ten minutes later I turned my scope to the south and was looking at the 25 Sandhill Cranes and 200-plus Canada Geese, when I did a double-take. There was a White Pelican far out across the wet field. The bird was preening so I quickly snapped a couple photos but the bird soon took off and the routine was repeated - it gained some altitude and headed north. Was this the same bird that had somehow circled back around and landed out there when I wasn’t looking? I called several local birders, but figured the birds were long gone. After I had headed home, I got a call from Su Snyder saying a White Pelican had emerged from the tall weeds in the same area where I had seen the preening bird. This time it stayed around all evening and was still there the next morning before finally heading out. We will never know whether there was just one bird, or perhaps two or three. On June 6, I was invited by Randy Rowe to join him at Wooster Memorial Park for a breeding bird survey. We spent five hours hiking about five miles through this lovely park, located off SR 250 only a few miles west of Wooster. There are beautiful streams, steep ravines, an old orchard and a large field where we saw at least two male Bobolinks and an Eastern Meadowlark. A nice surprise was an adult Broad-winged Hawk, almost certainly a nesting species at the park. Warblers included Yellow-throated, Blue-winged, Kentucky, Hooded, and Louisiana Waterthrush. I was surprised to hear a Veery singing its beautiful, haunting song deep in the forest near the main stream that flows through the park. The most common birds were Red-eyed Vireos and Acadian Flycatchers. All in all there were at least 40 species of birds making their homes at Memorial Park. I would encourage readers to check out this wonderful park. Be prepared for some steep trails and multiple stream crossings. Pick up a trail map at the parking lot before heading into the park since it can be quite confusing finding your way around the many trails. Good birding!


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