My 15 minutes of fame!

Well here it is a cold November day....only good thing is we didn't get any snow!  I know it is coming but the longer it delays the better I feel!   I received a pamphlet in the mail this week which took me back to May 2014....My sister and I were up at Lake Erie doing some birding at Magee Marsh and other places. (those pictures will follow in a later update).  I had never been to Kelly's Island and this year we planned to visit......

We took the ferry over...which was fun....

When we arrived we decided to just drive around the island....and what beautiful houses are there..
Here are just a few of our favorites........

We then decided to go see the Glacial Grooves......

As we are driving to them, I see this big bird in the tree...I yell at my sister to STOP!!!!  We back-up and there he is....I start taking pictures as fast as I can because I knew us being that close he would soon fly away!  

We didn't know what kind of bird he was????  I got out my Bird book.... I just got it and it is my favorite birding guide now......We are trying to figure out what bird we had just seen....we thought about the usual large birds...Osprey...no...I said it had a funny beak....

There is a fold out of birds on the front cover......

And when I opened the quick foldout guide...there he was  Caracaras, Falcons...page 120-127!

I turned to the page ....well 

If you look at the map...which we did...being new at birding..we saw that it couldn't be that because they are in Mexico and maybe in parts of Texas!   Well we were very confused and thought maybe it was an Osprey with something wrong with his beak....
These are the pictures I was able to get.....

He was behind the leaves...but moved...

 Still couldn't really see his head....

He kept moving....

Here he is looking at us...
















This turned out good....

 And then he was gone!!!!!!

We then went on to see the Glacial Grooves and enjoyed our visit to Kelly's Island..(which I will blog about later).....

When I got home and downloaded my pictures...I was able to get a better look at the bird...and I still thought he looked like a Crested Caracara....So I put it on the facebook page for ID Birds....
Oh I wasn't prepared for what happened next....Oh my goodness...I turned out to be right and people started commenting and talking about the sighting and some were upset that it took 3 days for me to post it....

I was overwhelmed and tried to answer everyone's questions....I was 3 1/2 hours from home and of course we didn't think it could have been a Crested Caracara from the map in the bird book...I felt bad.  But I have learned next time I see an unusual bird that I must immediately post it......

Then I was asked to make a rare bird report and then was asked to send pictures.  The Ohio Bird Records Committee voted unanimously 9-0, that this was the first sighting of the Crested Caracara in Ohio.  What a thrill for me!  My sister and I found a rare bird, very rare for Ohio....

Thanks to Paul Gardner, secretary OBRC for his help.

Then I was contacted by Craig Caldwell, editor of the Ohio Cardinal.  He wanted to put my picture of the Crested Caracara in the quarterly journal.   Wow...very thrilled.    He sent me a copy and I received it this week....I opened it looking for the picture and couldn't find it...so I looked closer to the front and there was my picture of the cover!  I want to thank Craig Caldwell for sending me a copy...

Vol. 37, No. 3 Spring 2014....

On page 122:

I am sorry no one else was able to see him....He was a long way from home....

So that is the story of my "15 minutes of Fame"..... I am very proud and thrilled and of course Happy with all that happened.....

I will be posting more pictures about out trip in May to Lake Erie.....Stay warm on this cold day....