Hey Folks -

My dad and I made a full day of birding, starting at Avon Lake Powerplant
and working our way west to Huron Harbor, Castalia, Resthaven, Sheldon's
Marsh, and back home through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We ended the
day with a solid 57 species, which is just nice to get during February
doldrums. Included in this total, 18 species of waterfowl. Cool.

AVON LAKE
Highlight was certainly two LITTLE GULLS, many thanks to Ethan K. for
posting this sighting earlier today. We arrived around 9 a.m. or so, spent
quite a bit of time searching through good numbers of waterfowl, and soon
after, locked in on a nice adult Little Gull just off the jetty. Within
twenty minutes, my dad picked up on a 1st winter bird, with awesome dark 'm'
markings racing across its wings. The juvie and adult hunted in tern-like
fashion within 50-100 feet of one another, off the jetty and near the edge
of the ice pack. We did not see them enter the hotwaters. A fawn-colored 1st
winter GLAUCOUS GULL put in a nice appearance, harassing the bejesus out of
any Herring Gull it could keep up with.  Gull numbers are NOT thick here,
and very surprisingly, Great Black-backed Gulls almost matched Herring Gulls
in number...yet, certainly less than 1000 gulls were present altogether.
Waterfowl: Red-breasted, Common and Hooded Mergansers, Canvasback, Redhead,
Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, American Black Duck, Mallard,
Gadwall, Mute Swan, Canada Goose. A single HORNED GREBE was in the extreme
left (west) portion of open water.

HURON HARBOR
Frozen over save for one minute patch less than 100 ft in length. Waterfowl
mainly bunched up and nestled on the ice in packs, 200+ Canada Geese, 10
Canvasback, 20+ Common Goldeneye, 20+ scaup species. At least 19 TUNDRA
SWANS were present here. A sheer spectacle of 8 or 9 BALD EAGLES put on a
show here and just west of this location, pumping back and forth across the
frozen wasteland. At one point, we had a 2nd year Baldie fly right over our
heads, clutching an American Coot. A single Snow Bunting in the parking lot.

SHELDON'S MARSH
Nice showing of woodland birds, with a smart-looking male Eastern Towhee
pleasant to our teary eyes. In a massive field just west, and immediately
south of the 'old Cedar Point causeway' two dark-morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS
put on a quick show. At the northern tip of the old Cedar Point Causeway
(that overlooks Sheldon's) we found a batch of waterfowl, including only a
handful of Gadwall, Redhead, and Common Goldeneye.

CASTALIA
Tundra Swan (2), Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard, American Black Duck,
American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Northern Pintail (2),
Canvasback, Bufflehead, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Common
Goldeneye, and a male HOODED MERGANSERXCOMMON GOLDENEYE (awesome bird).

RESTHAVEN
Not a whole lot around, but a single Sharp-shinned Hawk was a tick on the
day list.

NW Ohio in general
I know they're common and almost 'junkie' in the NW, but it was really grand
to see at least 16 Bald Eagles today. They seemed to be everywhere. A single
AMERICAN KESTREL (of TWO total today) was on 269 just north of Resthaven.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Brecksville Reservation provided a nice mix of woodland species, including
stellar looks at a Pileated Woodpecker. We tried for the Short-ears at the
Old Richfield Coliseum site, but came up empty.

Cheers.

Jen

Jen Brumfield
Akron, Ohio
[log in to unmask]
Birding America / www.birding-america.com
Illustrator/Naturalist, Cleveland Metroparks
Nikon Birding Optics ProStaff/ nikonusa.com
Editorial Advisor, A Bird's-Eye View / ABA
personal site: www.meadowhawkart.com


"Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing
circumstances contribute to them, few of them willed or determined by the
will." - Lawrence Durrell

"Blessed are the curious for they shall have adventure." - L. Drachman

"We take to the breeze; We go as we please." - E.B. White

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that
goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." - Miriam Beard

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