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November 2006

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From:
Jay Lehman <[log in to unmask]>
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Date:
Mon, 20 Nov 2006 08:54:33 -0500
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Ohio Birders,
I have never been to Mosquito Lake, but heard a lot about it here on Ohio
Birds.  So, in spite of dire warnings of possible snow for Sunday night, I
drove up there to see if I could find the 8 Long-tailed Ducks (LTDU)
reported by others.  Having never been there before, I started at the east
side of the causeway at the boat ramp just before the causeway starts.  I
came in from the east side, because I used I76 - I80 and Rt 15 as my route
to get there.  I was attracted by a large flock of apparent waterfowl out
on the lake, but they were decoys!  surrounding a partially submerged
hunter!   While scanning further I found a Red-necked Grebe, at first
rather close toward the south of the boat ramp parking lot relatively
close to the shore.  Eventually, it moved further out into the lake.  I
took one digiscoped photo.  There were also about 5 Common Loons.  Then I
crossed the causeway and parked in the causeway parking area on the south
side of Rt 88 toward the west side of the lake.  The LTDU's were right out
in front of me and were not very cooperative at first as they were diving
frequently.  It seemed that every time I looked though my scope at them,
they dove.  Maybe they didn't like the "big eye" looking at them.
Eventually they became more cooperative.  There was one apparent drake,
still with a long tail, and in winter plumage (the white one), as breeding
plumage for LTDU is quite dark and mostly black.  The other 7 appear to be
young/juvenile birds, but I'll need to look closely at my photos.  I have
photos from outside of Nome Alaska last year (2005) in the dark breeding
plumage.  As I worked my way south along the east side of Mosquito Lake, I
kept my eyes to the skies, anticipating snow.  East of Cortland, at a park
beach I had 2 young Bald Eagles fly over.  There was a very large flock of
500-1000 Bonaparte's Gulls on the water by the dam.  They were resting and
flying across the road to feed in the spillway area.  I looked them over
but didn't find anything unusual.  A few Bufflehead on the lake.  4 south
of the causeway (3 m, 1 f./im.) and abut 10 at the south end of the lake
on the west side in the water off of the state park.  About 5 Ruddy Ducks
mixed in with a large flock of Mallards, obviously staying south away from
the hunters!  Smart ducks!  I didn't escape snow entirely, as I drove
through about three heavy snow squalls in the Akron and Mansfield areas.
Jay

Jay G. Lehman
Cincinnati, OH
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