Howdy All,
This is another chapter in a continuing tale of a January century lister.
I started Sunday at Headlands Beach SP just at or after sunrise.  The
local birders, Ray Hannikman, Jim McCarty (correct spelling?) and others
were there already birding.  I headed for the jetty in a quest for the
Purple Sandpiper.  The first new bird for the day was Herring Gull, not a
great bird but difficult to see in SW Ohio right now.  The Purple
Sandpiper was not accommodating and was not visible from the base of the
jetty, so I walked out.  The jetty was generally dry with no ice where it
was wet, and fortunately the wet parts were flat.  The conditions still
required care in walking out.  Just beyond the light house a single Snow
Bunting flew over giving its "pheww" call.  The Purple Sandpiper was on
the very last bulwark at the end.  There was a lot of flotsam and jetsam
on the bulwarks as well as more than ankle deep water in some places.  To
get from the third to last bulwark to the last bulwark I constructed a
bridge with a hefty plank that was about eight feet long and about a foot
wide.  I used a long branch also deposited on the bulwarks as a "crutch"
for balance when walking across this bridge.  The bridge was across the
tops of two of the very large blocks/rocks that sit on top of the
bulwarks.  I left the bridge in place and the crutch for any adventurous
followers.  Obviously, it required a little problem solving to get to see
this Purple Sandpiper!  The Purple Sandpiper was feeding along the edge of
ponded water in the last bulwark as well as in deposited flotsam.  At
first, it was not visible, because it was feeding out of sight at the
bottom of a relatively wide seam between the concrete and the outer steel
wall of the bulwark.   I noticed this feeding behavior back in December,
2006 when I saw two Purple Sandpipers at this same location.  So, the
message is be patient if you do walk out to the end of the jetty.  The
bird may disappear but will likely appear with waiting.  After all that
effort to see the Purple Sandpiper, I took a few photos, which I will post
later.

On my way back to the beach and just beyond the lighthouse, I scoped the
jetties to the east and found two Double-crested Cormorants.  These
jetties were full of gulls when I walked out, but something spooked them,
and there were few gulls there while I was scanning.  While on the way
back to the beach, a large flock (200) Red-breasted Mergansers flew north
past the jetty.  Other birds seen on the path back to the parking lot
were, Tree Sparrow (50) and Song Sparrow 1.  In the picnic area just north
of the parking lot, I found 2 Blue Jay, 1 White-breasted Nuthatch, and
single Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers.  There were two Black-capped
chickadees, a new bird for the year.  I stopped at Fairport Harbor, where
I found a single drake Common Goldeneye, an uncooperative immature scaup
species that kept its head and bill tucked, and 6 Great Black-backed Gulls
on the jetty.  There were hundreds of Herring and Ring-billed Gulls on the
jetty as well as the two Double-crested Cormorants.

I stopped at Mentor Lagoons as I worked my way west.  Nothing new here,
but most notable was a flock of 10 Great Blue Herons flying east into the
marsh across the parking area.  This is an amazing indication of how warm
a winter we are having.  There were about 100 Red-breasted Mergansers on
the lake, a few Herring Gulls, and on the path to the lake overview, 8
Black-capped Chickadees, 2 American Goldfinch, and 2 Blue Jays.

I stopped at Eastlake Power Plant. where there were a large flock of about
1000 Red-breasted Mergansers, 6 Great Black-backed Gulls on the piers, and
several hundred (somewhat reduced numbers) of Herring Gulls on the piers.
There was one adult Lesser Black-backed Gull snoozing on the pier.  This
bird was noticeably smaller than the surrounding Herring Gulls, with a
dark gray back (lighter than adult Great Black-backed, significantly
darker than Herring Gull), and had the streaked crown and nape that is
typical of winter plumage adults of this species.  After careful looking
at higher power, I was able to see the yellow legs of this bird.  The
local Peregrine Falcons were uncooperative and were not on either stack or
on the nesting platform.  I left Eastlake briefly to check out the mouth
of the Chagrin River to the east, but that area was devoid of birds.  I
stopped at Eastlake again briefly to check on the peregrines, but with no
luck.  When I arrived, Bob Royce had just arrived and was setting up his
scope, so I joined him.  He had just found some Common Mergansers, so I
looked for and found 4 Common Mergansers near the rock walls to the east
of the parking area.

Bob and I both headed to Sims Park.  When I arrived, he had already seen
all three scoters close to the observation area in the western park of the
park, but dog walkers had spooked the whole flock.  We went to the fishing
pier at the eastern end of the park and found the scoter flock.  I
estimated 6 Black Scoter and about 20 Surf Scoters.  We worked hard at
trying to pull out a White-winged Scoter, and thought we found some
several times.  However, it was notable that none of these birds ever
showed any white in the wing during preening, diving, scooting about as
scoters do and wing flapping.  Eventually, patience paid off, as a
breeding plumage drake White-winged Scoter flew in and landed to the east
of the flock.   Bob followed it until it landed, after which it showed
white in the wing.  So, we are confident that there were no White-winged
Scoters in the orignal flock.  There were about 40 Common Goldeneye and a
number of Bufflehead present as well as both scaup species.  I counted 3
Greater Scaup, all, female, immature birds, none of them males, and at
least 4 Lesser Scaup, perhaps more, and all males.

We both left for E 72nd Street, where we met again and where there is an
enormous flock of Bonaparte's Gulls that would be worth sorting through,
as Bob pointed out.  However, they were far out.  I did scope them but
didn't find anything interesting.  No Little Gull, no Black-headed Gull,
no Black-legged Kittiwake that I could find.  I did find one adult winter
plumage Lesser Black-backed Gull, same plumage at the bird at Eastlake,
that briefly joined one of the closer groups of Bonaparte's Gulls.  Not
much else of note, but relatively large numbers of Ring-billed and Herring
Gulls with some Great Black-backed Gulls mixed in.

I ended the day in The Flats at Merwin Street looking at the Black-crowned
Night Herons in the roost.  It was getting dark rather quickly, and it's
not a great place to be that time of day, so I did a very quick count
estimate and came up with about 70 Black-crowned Night Herons.

I ended the day with 81 species for January and the year.  Not bad for
three full days plus a few hours of birding in Ohio!
Jay

Jay G. Lehman
Cincinnati, OH
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