Mud Hen Marsh

I didn't have to travel anywhere this weekend, so Steve and I tried a new birding spot - Mud Hen Marsh near Hoover Reservoir, north of Columbus, OH. We specifically went up there to look for Red Headed Woodpeckers, but it was too late in the day to spot any. We'll try again sometime. The habitat is perfect and there have been many sightings here of this bird. Steve's been wanting to see one all season - ever since I spotted one in early spring.



There's another group of snags on the north end of the park so Steve went on an explore to try his luck there. We didn't see any woodpeckers, but did see a kingfisher, a great blue heron and a Coopers Hawk.







There's a nice blind built up on the hill for looking out over the pond. The only problem is that the viewing slot is made for shorter people than us. The Goldenrod is in peak flowering right now. Fortunately, we don't seem to have allergies to this pollen.








The Coopers Hawk landed in a snag across the pond. I took this photo with my 300 mm zoom (hand-held with a fast shutter speed).















Steve also brought along his Televue telescope. I have an adapter for my camera, and this is my first trial of the digi-scope (600 mm zoom). The scope sits on a sturdy tripod, and is great for this kind of photography if you can stay in one spot. I need to get a remote control for taking the photos, though, so I don't have to push down the shutter release.