A MIGRATION SENSATION--
The village of Shreve, OH was all spiffy for its recent 9th annual Spring Migration Sensation—an event that showcased the town’s nearby wildlife areas of lakes and bogs and marshes.
Visitors arriving to register at the elementary school on Market St., were welcomed by a Snowy Owl (above) who loitered that morning on the supportive arm of his handler from the Medina Raptor Center.
He constantly peered at visitors with his twirling head that seemed to revolve unrestrained compliments of a highly dexterous neck, bone structure. He and his avian companions were mostly permanent guests of the raptor center due to injuries preventing their safe return to the wild.
Collectively, they displayed a dignified amusement while performing their educational chores.
Visitors were treated to six workshops throughout the day beginning with Chuck Jakubchak’s subtly humorous presentation entitled the Birds of Shreve which hinted at the marvelous variety folks might see out on the marshes.
The nearby Killbuck Marsh at 5,671 acres is Ohio’s largest marshland outside the Lake Erie region. The marsh is one of the few nesting locations in Ohio for the sandhill crane.
The Funk Bottoms is a 1,498 acre wildlife area. The nearby Mohicanville “dry” Dam was built in 1936 as a flood control measure and it contains over 8,800 acres of flood easement controlled by the corps of engineers.
My ladyfriend Joetta Goodman and I took a leisurely and informative peek at Brown’s Bog where Ashland University biology professor Dr. Dick Stoffer told us about the bog’s formation since the last ice age ended 10 to 15 thousand years ago.
The weight of the glacial ice depressed the land into a bowl which contained the melt water from the receding ice. Over eons of time vegetation grew into mats gradually covering the water surface and forming the solid to soggy surface we walked on during our visit—aided in parts by boardwalks.
A backyard-sized pond is all that remains of that glacial lake.
Shreve Lake, a 58 acre impoundment just west of town was a birding hotspot during the event. A quintet of very serious birdwatching Amish ladies (pictured below) were armed with an optical store-load of binoculars and telescopes.
The gal on the right beamed as she told me about the rare duck she had seen that morning and added to her life’s list of bird observations—the Grail of birdwatching.
Visitors arriving to register at the elementary school on Market St., were welcomed by a Snowy Owl (above) who loitered that morning on the supportive arm of his handler from the Medina Raptor Center.
He constantly peered at visitors with his twirling head that seemed to revolve unrestrained compliments of a highly dexterous neck, bone structure. He and his avian companions were mostly permanent guests of the raptor center due to injuries preventing their safe return to the wild.
Collectively, they displayed a dignified amusement while performing their educational chores.
Visitors were treated to six workshops throughout the day beginning with Chuck Jakubchak’s subtly humorous presentation entitled the Birds of Shreve which hinted at the marvelous variety folks might see out on the marshes.The nearby Killbuck Marsh at 5,671 acres is Ohio’s largest marshland outside the Lake Erie region. The marsh is one of the few nesting locations in Ohio for the sandhill crane.
The Funk Bottoms is a 1,498 acre wildlife area. The nearby Mohicanville “dry” Dam was built in 1936 as a flood control measure and it contains over 8,800 acres of flood easement controlled by the corps of engineers.
My ladyfriend Joetta Goodman and I took a leisurely and informative peek at Brown’s Bog where Ashland University biology professor Dr. Dick Stoffer told us about the bog’s formation since the last ice age ended 10 to 15 thousand years ago.
The weight of the glacial ice depressed the land into a bowl which contained the melt water from the receding ice. Over eons of time vegetation grew into mats gradually covering the water surface and forming the solid to soggy surface we walked on during our visit—aided in parts by boardwalks.
A backyard-sized pond is all that remains of that glacial lake.
Shreve Lake, a 58 acre impoundment just west of town was a birding hotspot during the event. A quintet of very serious birdwatching Amish ladies (pictured below) were armed with an optical store-load of binoculars and telescopes.
The gal on the right beamed as she told me about the rare duck she had seen that morning and added to her life’s list of bird observations—the Grail of birdwatching.
I listened attentively and wondered what form her celebration would take at day’s end.
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