4/26 Maumee Bay State Park & Crazy Cardinals

I've been spending the past few days at one of my favorite Ohio State Parks: Maumee Bay.  I like it because sites are very well spread out and it tends to be quiet, especially in the spring during the week.  It also has a lot of paved bike trails and a laundromat with three washers and dryers!  That saves me a lot of trips if I have more than one load to wash. 

This week started out really cold, but sunny.  I stopped at a Blue Beacon truck wash on my way here, so I also have a very nice and shiny motorhome.  However, that seems to have attracted a bunch of female cardinals who are not too bright.  They spent the entire first day flinging themselves at the windows and side of my motorhome, apparently attempting to cause themselves brain damage.  Apparently, they did not like the looks of the birdy intruders they kept seeing in their reflections, so WHAM, into the image they went!  

This one is sitting on a branch on the small tree next door, trying to decide what to do next.

Bam!  Got that strange bird in the window!  

This one is hanging onto the tiny window sill on the small top bunk window.  

They did that over and over--about once every five minutes all day Monday.  When that became boring, they pecked at my hub caps.  Finally, around noon and getting tired of the constant thunks against the side of my vehicle, I got the idea to tape some ribbon on my windows to try to scare them away.  Mostly it has worked because the wind has done a good job of keeping the ribbons moving constantly. 

This extremely large state park used to be farmland, but has turned into meadow over the years.  And the meadow has grown a lot of small trees and large shrubs, as you can see by the ones next to my motorhome that have acted as birdy launching pads.  

 

This is really excellent bird habitat, as you can see from the next few photos.  Lots of ponds, meadows, and woodsy areas for birds.  In addition, this state park is on Lake Erie and one of the major Atlantic bird flyways.  Birds coming from Ontario and the Arctic fly over Lake Erie and land along the south shore of the lake, which is exactly where this park is located. 

   

You can see the campground map on the left of this photo, but the park also has a large day use area along the lake, shown in the middle, and a hotel and golf course shown on the middle-right.  I really like that the roads in the campground are curved because it means that you can see only a very few campsites to the left and right of you. 

This is the hotel on Lake Erie. It has a restaurant, indoor pool, larger outdoor pool, and children's indoor play area.  It is open all year. 

This is the Nature Center.  Behind it is a two-mile boardwalk, which I was too tired today to bother with. 

A view of the beach and a corner of the hotel.

More beach, looking towards the day use area. 

The hiking/bike path headed back to the campground.