Aerial View Redux

Cerulean warbler The melodic sounds of spring migration return to Northeast Ohio As we transition from the spring migration to the summer breeding season, it’s a good time to look back on one of the most exciting months of birding in Ohio in memory. After 27 years at The Plain Dealer, I was liberated from the 40-hour work week following my retirement March 1, which provided an unprecedented opportunity to birdwatch and to help others seek birds during what most consider the best birding month of the year. Kentucky warbler/Jerry Talkington Blessed with a newfound luxury of free time, I didn’t confine my birding to Northeast Ohio, which unfortunately experienced a delayed songbird migration due to cool, wet weather and the absence of beneficial southerly winds. My longtime birding buddy Jeff Wert and I kicked off the season at Shawnee State Park, a magical forest located along the Ohio River in Scioto County, where spring typically arrive s a month earlier than

Red-winged blackbird/Chuck Slusarczyk Jr.   New birders enjoy the beauty of Spring Migration at Cleveland lakefront preserve One of the greatest rewards for being a birder is sharing my love for these beautiful plumed creatures with non-birders, especially while exploring some of the best birding habitats found anywhere in Northeast Ohio. My most recent opportunity to serve as a tour guide and birding ambassador came May 5 on behalf of the Fairview Park Women’s Club, http://www.fairviewparkwomensclub.org/ a philanthropic organization that does amazing work helping needy families, sponsoring sports teams and providing scholarships and grants to promising high school students. Blue-headed vireo This year, the Women’s Club raised more than $13,000 in charitable contributions , with a large chunk of it coming from the annual Wine Tasting & Silent Auction, to which I had donated a bird walk. The winning bid was cast by Diane Faile, who invited