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November 2006

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From:
Andy Sewell <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Andy Sewell <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 20 Nov 2006 09:22:42 -0500
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Having struck out on any out of the ordinary birds on November 11's Columbus
Audubon Avid Birders trip, several of us went up this last Saturday to take
advantage of better weather (for birders anyway). We started at Perry Park
about 8:30am and ended at Edgewater Park about 3:30 pm, hitting most of the
stops in between.



At Perry Park, we didn't see anything rare, but there was a good movement of
birds heading west, especially Red-Breasted Mergansers. I would broadly
estimate that we saw at least 15,000 mergansers, and I'm probably on the low
side by quite a bit. There were numerous Ring-Billed, Herring, and
Bonaparte's Gulls on the move as well, with many Bonaparte's Gulls simply
sitting out on the water, along with numerous Horned Grebes. Common Loons
lived up to their name, as at least 15-20 different birds flew by or were
present. We also had Bufflehead and Hooded Mergansers, as well as a lone
Mallard.



The next stop was Fairport Harbor, which was fairly quiet, with a few coots,
some rafts of scaup, and the usual gulls. A lone Canada Goose was floating
around, an obvious casualty of a hunter who cannot claim to be a dead-eye
with a gun. As there wasn't much going on, we skipped over to Headlands and
made our way out towards the lighthouse, where two of our group had gone on
ahead while we were at the harbor. As we looked to see where they had set
up, a Jaegar flew by the lighthouse, a dark bird with white flashes only in
the wingtips. This was all the motivation we needed to scramble across the
breakwall all the way to the end, where we observed the bird sitting on the
water for a few minutes, before it got up and flew off. Before it
disappeared, those of us who got good looks noted that the bird had a
slender appearance, with wings that seemed narrow from the base of the wing
through the tip. Again, white was only present in the wing tips. After much
discussion and consultation of field guides, we settled upon an
identification of Parasitic Jaeger, based on the slender, not stocky,
appearance of the bird and the narrow appearance of the base of the wings
where they meet the body of the bird. We thought that a Pomarine Jaeger
should have appeared more broad in the chest and the wings, and that was
definitely not the impression this bird gave off.  Brad Sparks said his
initial impression upon first sighting the bird from the start of the
breakwall was that it was a falcon, whereas a Pomarine Jaeger should have
bore more resemblance to a gull.



After the Jaeger excitement, we headed to Eastlake Power Plant, where we had
excellent looks at a Peregrine Falcon, but there was surprisingly little
activity close in to the plant, aside from the usual gulls. We then made a
stop at Sims Park, and had great views of White-Winged, Black, and Surf
Scoters, along with a Red-Throated Loon (thanks to the Amish birders there
who found the bird). Next was an attempt to find the Red-Necked Grebe with
no luck, and we ended the day at Edgewater Park with nice views of the
Brant.



All in all, a great day at the lake, considering we didn't have to turn into
human icicles to enjoy birding!



Andy Sewell

Columbus, Ohio



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