Clear Creek Metro Park In Winter

Although Joan and I sought out new hiking locations in 2020, or ones we've visited rarely, Clear Creek Metro Park is always on the menu, particularly if we haven't been there for a few months. Recently we have visited it twice, after winter's onset.

On our first trip, December 23rd, we began at the Creekside Meadows parking area. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

From there Joan and I took the riverside walk that leads to the Cemetery Ridge trailhead. The year's prairie growth was, of course, completely brown. Half of the trail was still in shade, so we were in time to see some marvelous ice crystals on the plants. On sticks,

on emptied seed pods,

and on tired, dangling stems.

A cluster of wrens was enjoying the sunny portion.

Joan and I prefer to take the Cemetery Ridge trail only when the trees are winter-bare, for otherwise it's like walking through a green tunnel with an occasional gas pipeline right-of-way at the eastern end. It starts with switchbacks climbing to the ridgeline, and then heads west.

What's this? Netting on a tripod?

It's protecting a rare plant species against vegetarian predators.

Further on we reached the old barn,

which, when the leaves are out, you can miss when heading west-to-east, as we have done before. This historic barn

makes me wonder, how could it be possible to successfully farm up here on the ridge? The bottom lands on the Hocking River would have been much richer, but also more expensive. You can circumambulate the barn and peek into the interior.

Just outside, some moss-drenched log stumps caught my eye.

Moving on, Joan and I spotted a red-eyed vireo nest. Now that we can recognize them and the leaves are gone, we're spotting them more often.

When we reached the end of the Cemetery Ridge trail Joan and I paused at the bench there for a snack, and then made a loop on the Fern trail. Joan spotted this sap or resin glistening like a gem on the side of a tree as we walked the section of Fern that's on a meadow's edge.

While climbing back up Fern to the intersection with the Hemlock trail we met a group of volunteers inspecting hemlocks for the woolly adelgid, an insect pest not native to eastern North America that hijacks sap and, over a few years, kills the tree. Early detection is vital to have any chance of saving the hemlocks, beloved by hermit thrushes, which have breeding populations in only two isolated locations in Ohio, one of which is here at Clear Creek.

We took the Hemlock trail, finding some putty-root orchid leaves in a spot where we've occasionally seen them in other years. Joan showed them to another passing hiker who had never seen them before.

From the end of Hemlock we walked back to the car, largely on the creekside.

On an even frostier January 13th (it warmed up as the day wore on) Joan and I explored some of the western end of Clear Creek, parking at the Valley View Picnic Area.

We began by hiking downhill to the edge of the man-made Lake Ramona, where we had a huge surprise. Earlier in the year we'd spotted some beaver activity that didn't appear to have come to fruition.

But now, several yards further upstream, a completed dam stretched across the entire low-lying area. The arc of the earlier effort is at far left.

A closer look ...

Zooming in on the highest population of sticks ...

The beavers have been busy!

The trail rises gradually at first as it heads away from the lake, and the patterns of ice, debris, and reflections were striking.

The Lake trail ends back up on the top of the ridge, where we turned left and tromped through a goodly portion of the Chestnut Ridge trail before turning around. As we grew close to the parking area we turned onto the Tulip trail loop, a rough parallel to the Lake trail, and directly across from it, on the other face of the ridge. Along this section we were treated to a group of foraging golden-crowned kinglets, who are small, hyperactive birds. They were impossible to capture on camera but we persevered with our binos and managed some good looks.

This trail also took us to what we call the "living room," a grove of hemlock trees and excellent sitting logs. In season the hemlocks often attract hermit thrushes, absent in winter. Here is a photo taken back on June 15th as we approached the living room.

After snacking again at the living room Joan and I continued on the Tulip trail, and reached the point where a spur trail led to the E. E. Good prairie, which we hadn't visited in a long time -- it's out in the open and too hot in the summer for us. This time we took the spur. The trail loops around the prairie, and we were treated to two pairs of bluebirds checking out a nest box. In this photo, taken from some distance, two females are at the box simultaneously. Click on the image to enlarge.

In this one, there's a male hanging around in the upper left as the womenfolk continue their inspection.

It's too early for serious nesting, but these bluebirds were certainly checking out that box.

After a short climb to the parking area our day was complete. If you dress warmly and keep your eyes open, there are still sights to see in the winter landscape.

The Wetlands at Slate Run Metro Park

In mid-May Joan and I explored the walking trails at Slate Run Metro Park, especially those around the wetlands at the western end of the park. Joan had visited earlier and was eager to show me the flora and fauna there.

The abundance of frogs was astonishing. Heads were popping out of the waters everywhere, often only a few feet apart.

They were mostly the common American Bullfrog.

Their concentration made me think that the larger birds, such as the great blue heron, should be very well fed this spring.

Joan was hoping to show me the water snakes she had seen on her previous visit, but was concerned that they wouldn't be visible again. She didn't need to be. First, we saw a water snake swimming through one of the ponds. It slowed down as it struggled through some algae, and I captured this photo.

Further along, water snakes were out sunning on the same log where she had seen them before. Two clusters of snakes, in fact; here's a picture of one group intertwined on the log.

The smaller ones are males and the larger one the female. (Click on the photo to enlarge.) Because there is more than one suitor still remaining, we assume the female hasn't made her choice yet.

We also saw a female red-winged blackbird, who was unwilling to fly to her nest until we drew further away. This was educational encounter for me; I would have guessed this bird to be some flavor of sparrow, not a red-winged blackbird. She doesn't need to dress brightly to attract the males, however, and her camouflage quotient is much higher than theirs.

There was a much larger bird circling constantly during the first portion of our hike:

Yes, that's Air Force One, the President's aircraft, although if the Vice President has borrowed the keys to the 747 the call sign for the aircraft would be Air Force Two. Joan later contacted the Columbus Dispatch, which knew of a fundraiser in northeastern Ohio that Joe Biden would be attending the next day, but had no idea why the plane would be circling Rickenbacker airport for hours, and practicing touch-and-go (sometimes the landing gear was down).

Joan suggested that it was an attempt to reduce the federal budget deficit by offering paid rides, or that Joe Biden had told the pilots "I'll only be a short while, just circle the block rather than parking."

We nearly stumbled over a turtle ... a midland painted turtle, the only painted turtle in Ohio. This was turning into a fruitful expedition.

The spiderwort was common in some locations.

One section of the wetlands trail system includes a boardwalk over a pond and nearby swampy area, giving the observer a closer look at the aquatic environment.
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This gave us some spectacular looks at sunning and swimming water snakes.

Any closer would have been too close.

Just beyond, there was a stand of blue flag iris, Iris virginica var. shrevei, a wet soil or swamp lover.

After finishing the boardwalk we walked up to an observation deck atop a small hill. Looking west is looking across terrain scraped by glaciers, so even a modest hill gives a good view. The tip of a telescope on the deck is at far right.

From the deck our path took us along a field edge, which was good for bird activity, and then into the woods as far as the Shady Grove Picnic Area. Almost an hour after leaving the deck, I spotted this woodland toad.

We saw and listened to an acadian flycatcher, what Joan and I know as the "pizza" bird, after its call, which sounds like"peet-sah."

Returning along the field edge, I managed a good shot of this male bluebird. The gods of photography were smiling on me: this was the best of only three attempts before he flew off.

Near the end of our walk -- 6 or 7 miles in total, Joan tells me -- we passed by a tall pole with purple martin nest boxes.

Then we arrived back at the car, about 4½ hours after we began. Life was in full bloom, and except for the parking areas and a couple of joggers close to the picnic area, we didn't meet any other examples of homo sapiens var. buckeye. Well, it was a Tuesday.