Date: 4/5/25 11:39 am From: Douglas Vogus <vogeye...> Subject: [Ohio-birds] Cuyahoga Valley Towpath Trail Census
APRIL 04, 2025 - CUYAHOGA VALLEY MONTHLY TOWPATH TRAIL CENSUS. ROUTE: Merriman Valley north to Boston Store Trailhead (reverse of normal route and Towpath Trail closed north at Red Lock). TIME: 6:55am - 4:40pm TIME AFIELD: 9:45 TEMP.: 46F ~ 62F COND.: Cloudy early turning to hazy sun at 9:20am, then mostly sunny until 11:40am, then slowly clouding back up again. TRAIL COND.: Good - considering two heavy days of rain prior to the census; wet and muddy in the usual low spots. RIVER COND.: Very high, swift, and muddy; absolutely no rockbars or sandbars showing due to two rounds of very heavy thunderstorms prior to the census; all creeks and runs raging towards the Cuyahoga River. FT. MI.: 11.50 OBS.: John Henry and Douglas W. Vogus.
I. MAMMALS: 9 SPECIES, 48 TOTAL.
1. Eastern Cottontail - 1 2. Eastern Chipmunk - 13 3. Woodchuck - 1 4. Eastern Gray Squirrel - 6 (1 black morph) 5. Eastern Fox Squirrel - 4 6. Red Squirrel - 16 7. American Beaver - 1 (Third April Record on Census) 8. Common Muskrat - 5 9. White-tailed Deer - 1 (doe)
II. BIRDS: 62 SPECIES, 1,159 TOTAL. (NOTE: m = male; f = female; ? = bird was seen but not sexed; * = bird was heard calling but not sexed)
1. Canada Goose - 101 (7 nests: four on muskrat houses, one on the rootball of a toppled sycamore tree, one on an abandoned beaver lodge, and one on the corner of Lock 29) 2. Trumpeter Swan - 3 (at Lock 29 Swamp - Fourth April Record on Census) 3. Wood Duck - 22 (15m,7f) 4. Blue-winged Teal - 2 (1m,1f) (at Ira Beaver Marsh - Fourth April Record on Census) 5. Northern Shoveler - 4 (3m,1) (at Ira Beaver Marsh - Third April Record on Census & Tied Census High from 04/2018) 6. Gadwall - 4 (3m,1f) (in the A.W.P.C.S. northwest retention pond - First April Record on Census) 7. American Black Duck - 4 (2m,2f) 8. Mallard - 27 (18m,8f,1*) 9. Common Merganser - 7 (3m,4f) 10. Wild Turkey - 3 (2m,1f) (Fourth April Record on Census) 11. Pied-billed Grebe - 1 (Ira Beaver Marsh) 12. Rock Pigeon - 5 13. Mourning Dove - 37 (half of an egg found on ground) 14. Killdeer - 7 15. American Woodcock - 1 (calling) (First April Record on Census) 16. Wilson's Snipe - 4 (at Ira Beaver Marsh - Fourth Record on Census, Second April Record on Census & New Census High - previous was 2 on 05/2022) 17. Double-crested Cormorant - 6 (fly-over - Fourth April Record on Census) 18. Great Blue Heron - 31 19. Turkey Vulture - 21 20. Bald Eagle - 2 (1 adult,1 immature) 21. Red-shouldered Hawk - 1 22. Red-tailed Hawk - 7 (2 immature) 23. Belted Kingfisher - 7 (5m,2?) 24. Red-bellied Woodpecker - 18 (5m,1f,12*) (two nests - one in a dead ash tree snag and the other in an unknown dead snag) 25. Downy Woodpecker - 10 (4m,2f,2?,2*) 26. Hairy Woodpecker - 5 (2m,1f,1?,1*) 27. Northern Flicker - 19 (5m,5f,1?,8*) (one nest in a sycamore snag - New Census High - previous was 16 on 04/2020) 28. Pileated Woodpecker - 8 (2?,4*,2 heard drumming) 29. Peregrine Falcon - 1 (m) 30. Eastern Phoebe - 18 (one gathering nesting material - New Census High - previous was 13 on 10/2016) 31. Blue Jay - 27 (one gathering grapevine twigs for nest - location of tree not found) 32. American Crow - 16 33. Black-capped Chickadee - 22 (one pair excavating nest hole in a buckeye tree nub) 34. Tufted Titmouse - 17 35. Tree Swallow - 17 (all at Ira Beaver Marsh) 36. Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 7 37. Barn Swallow - 1 (at Ira Beaver Marsh - Fifth April Record on Census) 38. Golden-crowned Kinglet - 9 (2m,2f,4?,1*) 39. White-breasted Nuthatch - 17 (6m,3f,8*) 40. Carolina Wren - 15 41. Brown Thrasher - 1 (Fifth April Record on Census) 42. European Starling - 61 43. Eastern Bluebird - 2 (1?,1*) 44. American Robin - 67 (one starting a nest in a Japanese honeysuckle) 45. House Sparrow - 38 46. House Finch - 17 (10m,5f,2*) 47. Purple Finch - 6 (4m,2f) (all together feeding on elm tree buds - First April Record on Census) 48. American Goldfinch - 22 (12m,6f,4*) 49. Chipping Sparrow - 2 (Fifth April Record on Census) 50. Fox Sparrow - 4 51. American Tree Sparrow - 4 52. Dark-eyed Junco - 3 (1m,2f) 53. White-throated Sparrow - 21 54. Savannah Sparrow - 2 (in the grassy playfield at south end of Indian Springs Trailer Park - Fourth Record on Census, First April Record on Census & Tied Census High from 05/2022 & 05/2024) 55. Song Sparrow - 51 56. Swamp Sparrow - 8 57. Eastern Towhee - 15 (9m,6*) (New Census High - previous was 8 on 05/2019 & 04/2022) 58. Red-winged Blackbird - 64 (58m,6f) 59. Brown-headed Cowbird - 17 (8m,6f,3?) 60. Rusty Blackbird - 45 (36m,8f,1*) (all but one at the entrance to the former Conrad Botzum Farm in the wet area along the entrance drive) 61. Common Grackle - 108 62. Northern Cardinal - 64 (48m,14f,2*)
Unidentified Passerines - 3
III. REPTILES: 5 SPECIES, 281 TOTAL.
1. Common Snapping Turtle - 8 2. Red-eared Turtle - 11 3. Midland Painted Turtle - 259 4. Eastern Spiny Softshell - 1 (Second April Record on Census) 5. Northern Water Snake - 2 (Fourth April Record on Census)
IV. AMPHIBIANS: 4 SPECIES, 24 TOTAL.
1. American Toad - 3 (Second April Record on Census) 2. Northern Spring Peeper - 14 (heard only) 3. American Bullfrog - 1 (Fifth April Record on Census) 4. Green Frog - 6
V. FISHES: 3 SPECIES, 66 TOTAL.
1. Central Mudminnow - 47 (all in Deep Lock) 2. Common Carp - 1 (First April Record on Census) 3. Bluntnose Minnow - 18 (Second April Record on Census)
VI. BUTTERFLIES: 2 SPECIES, 3 TOTAL.
1. Spring Azure - 2 (Second April Record on Census) 2. Mourning Cloak - 1 (Third April Record on Census)
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