The last location that we visit on a guided tour is Sheldon Marsh which has a large parking lot. And as we learn the trail we are going to walk on is part of the original automobile entrance to Cedar Points Amusement Park and was one of the first paved roads east of the Mississippi River. It is quite hot but we decide to soldier on, maybe we can find some interesting birds on this stretch.
And that we find almost immediately. After a Green Heron nest, already cool we hear and then see a Cape May Warbler, something that we weren’t yet able to see during the festival. Quite a bonus really especially with the nice, close views.
We then continue through the forest, luckily this section has shade, and encounter, figuratively, another surprise. There are Nighthawks passing above and not one or two but probably half a dozen. Quite special to see them during the day.
And then we find a Scarlet Tanager and a Red-bellied woodpecker, both new birds for us in Ohio so overall this stretch seems to be very productive.
The next excitement to be had is when we hear some weird sounds and notice a baby raccoon in a tree. And then we notice the mother coming, climbing and the grabbing the kid by the scruff before moving on far from prying eyes.
Another major highlight on the stretch is an Eastern Screech Owl noticed by us, just in case you were wondering if we had any contributions to the birdwatching. This will create a mob of birders on this spot watching the owl that watches them back a bit bored and a bit annoyed.
The next section is a marshy area and here we see a plethora of Wood Ducks, they are seemingly everywhere on the other side of the lake but none close to us.
What we get are Canada Geese, lots and lots of Canada Geese. Both adults and adults with chicks are common in this section as you would expect.
Another major find we make on the way is a Blanding Turtle mixed with lots of Painting Turtle. Supposedly they are quite famous as they can live seemingly forever and as such are studied to find the secret of immortality.
Here we decide to split for a bit. One of us stays with the group that decides to return to the van but the other one will follow the trail to the end to finish a cache that has the last stop further away.
So one of us is doing birwatching seeing some nice warblers and swans while the other one is almost running for the 0.3 miles to the end of the trail.
At least there is a bonus at the end, a wild beach and some nice views over the lake. However now it is time to run back to avoid being left here by the group.
Luckily there is no chance of that as the group is going quite slow so we reunite and then it is time to return to Port Clinton after a beautiful day out seeing lots of warblers and other interesting animals.
