Good news and bad news

Good news first. Migration is heating up, which means lots of birds around! I'm sitting at 189 Ohio birds for the year and more are showing up every day.
Birds on the move means surprises every year, and one of the first surprises of the spring was a big movement of Willets through Ohio. Usually shorebirds like these wind up in the marshes in the northwest corner of the state which makes them difficult to chase. On Monday however, I got word of a group on a "beach" at Deer Creek State Park, only about 45 minutes from where I work!
With the sun staying up past 8 PM, my only concern was that a dog walker or other beach-goer would flush the birds from their spot. I heard only one update in the afternoon, but it was hopeful.

After work I jumped in the car and made my way south. I'd been to Deer Creek before, but not to the beach, so I was glad to have GPS guiding me around the oddly shaped area. I pulled in past a sign declaring that off-leash dogs (the bane of my existence) were allowed on the beach. The lot was mostly empty, but I said a quick prayer anyway. Who's the Patron Saint of dog catchers? I know it's not Dominic... At any rate, I got to the top of the stairs leading from the lot to the beach, and even from there I could see my birds! They were pretty well silhouetted, but it's a distinctive enough silhouette that I knew what I was seeing: a new Ohio bird (for me)! I hopped down the stairs onto the beach to grab some photos.

Along with the Willets, I found a few Caspian Terns hanging around. These are the largest terns in the world, and a first-of-the-year species for me. The evening light let me get some great pictures of them flying gracefully along the edge of the water.

The big carrot-like bill on these terns allows them to be identified from far away

You'll notice that I've upgraded my camera! I was really please with these shots, so I moved in to capture the Willets. These were some very obliging subjects, probably because they were tired from a long flight the night before.

There were a lot of closed eyes in the group...

This is about as alert as I saw them, after a small boat went by.

I found another tern species too, this time a much smaller Forster's Tern. These birds look like miniatures of the Caspian Terns, and are very acrobatic in flight. Their wings are very long in proportion to their bodies which makes them very maneuverable. This one only stayed for a minute, but it was long enough for me to snap some pictures.

Coming in for a landing!

I captured an image with a Ring-billed Gull and a Willet for a sense of scale

Three new birds for the year, and one new Ohio bird made for a great evening. There were also a number of American Pipits jumping around, another species that's always good to see. I'm working on mastering my camera so that I can continue to share my birding trips. I was really pleased with the ones I got on this trip!

Now, for the bad news that my title suggested. My trusty spotting scope has met with it's end after about 10 years. I pulled up at a spot over the weekend hoping to get a good look at some American White Pelicans, but when I put my eye to the scope I saw nothing at all! One of the lenses is out of position, and that's not something that's easily repaired. Hopefully I can "borrow" looks through other people's scopes for awhile, because I'm not sure when I'll have the money for another! If you're feeling generous, I've put together a campaign to help purchase a new one here.

Hopefully I'll have more posts soon! Warbler season is just heating up, and after that I'm headed out west with my brothers, so I'll have plenty of material. Thanks for reading!