Winding Down with Sweet Birds

Well, I am less than two weeks away from permanently departing central Ohio.  This means an end to my Franklin county bird list for a while as well, save holiday visits in the future.  Hopefully, I'll make it out around the county again before I leave, but if I don't, I had a great day on the West side today.  I hit Batelle-Darby MP at sunrise for Dickcissels (insert middle school alpha-code joke), shorebirds, and hopefully a Black Tern.  Unfortunately, the tern was not to be found, but the Dickcissels were everywhere!

The females were out as well, saying hello as I passed through:

The shorebirds were a bit far for photos, but a Northern Harrier flew over and spooked everything, which was cool. (Check out the Red-winged Blackbird giving the Harrier the business!  GTFO NOHA!)

Other awesome grassland birds made appearances as well, like the Common Yellowthroat and his badass mask:

Grasshopper Sparrows, one of my new favorite birds, were everywhere.  This one let me practice back-lighting while it ate breakfast:

After this great morning at Darby, I decided to stop by the Heritage Trail MP in hopes of tracking down the rare, breeding (!) Bell's Vireos.  I followed previously reported directions, and sure enough, heard them from a way off as I approached the habitat.  The pair was quite active, and the male sang the entire short time I watched them, even posing for some quick photos.  Sweet Birds.

So that probably marks the last of my yearly and/or life birds to be found in Franklin county this year.  I feel like a tool posting this last part, but I spent a lot of early mornings, and gasoline, on birding Franklin this spring, so here it is.  Also, I had the advantage of being a TA for a class who birded 3 times per week, Paul H had a kid, Alex C and Tony F are married, and Dave S was working out of the county; otherwise they would have super-smash-bro'd my list.  A little competition is healthy, right?  

(end self-award ceremony)