Dayton, Ohio and The Wright Brothers

The birding trip has ended and we travel south to the Cincinnati area to visit our friends, Paul and Jo Marsh.  The first few days are spent relaxing and taking walks in some of Ohio's wonderful parks.  On Friday, May 31 we drove to Dayton, Ohio to visit the Carillon Historical Park.  Its most noted feature is the Wright Brothers Museum.  But they were also highlighting some of the other contributions the inventors of Dayton made to the world.  Not only the airplane, but the cash register (NCR) and the self-starter for the automobile.  This is the original 1905 Flyer III that was built and flown by the Wright Brothers.

Orville Wright flying the 1905 Flyer III

Grayling, Michigan

We ate at a Goodale's Bakery in Grayling.  Wonderful pastries!  There were a couple of interesting wall hangings.  Apparently this used to be a Ford dealership.  Wouldn't we like to buy a touring car for $450!

Mio and Grayling, Michigan and the Kirtland's Warbler

May 23-24, 2019

Our goal for today is to see the rare Kirtland's Warbler.  The bird has a very narrow habitat range and seems to like Jack Pines that are around 5-10 feet high.  Once the pines get larger the birds move to another spot.  The forest service manages the forest here just for the breeding of the Kirtland's Warbler.  They winter in the Bahamas.  We begin with an introduction at the Forest Service and we then follow the Forest Ranger to a site where they have been seen.  We are fortunate to see the bird pop up and sing for us.  But alas no photo op!  We stop in the town of Mio and get a photo of the Kirtland Warbler monument.  We have some fun with Diane as she finds a lucky penny!

After lunch we head to Hartwick Pines State park to look for more birds!  They have some feeders up at the visitors center so we are able to get some good looks at the Evening Grosbeaks and the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.

Evening Grosbeak

Blue Jay

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

A black squirrel!