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April 2007

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From:
Kenn Kaufman <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Kenn Kaufman <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 3 Apr 2007 00:51:22 -0400
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With limited time this evening (Monday April 2) I ran out to the end of the
road at Metzger Marsh (Lucas Co., east of Toledo).  Saw a handful of
expected migrants in the small woodlot there, such as 5 Yellow-rumped
Warblers, 2 Brown Creepers, 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 1 Winter Wren.
Surprised to see two Blue-gray Gnatcatchers there, male and female, foraging
more or less together.  Matt Anderson et al. in "Birds of the Toledo Area"
give the early record locally as April 3, while the early record listed by
Larry Rosche in "Birds of the Cleveland Region" is March 31, so April 2nd
seems about right for the very first migrants to appear -- possibly early
overshoots, a week or two ahead of the main migration.

On the way out I scanned the open waters of the marsh for ducks.  I had
checked Metzger several times this spring in hopes of a Eurasian Wigeon, but
even American Wigeons have seemed to be in low numbers.  However, I was
surprised (because I hadn't seen Vic Fazio's post yet) by the prevalence of
Gadwalls.  They were by far the most numerous waterfowl there, and when I
did a careful sweep with the scope I came up with a conservative count of
about 1320 Gadwalls, outnumbering all the other ducks combined.  (When I
checked the listserve later, I saw that Vic had estimated 850-plus here the
day before, even without the benefit of a scope.)  These are far higher
numbers than what have been published in the past and I presume there's
something unusual going on with the species this spring.  Peterjohn's "The
Birds of Ohio" mentions that aerial counts in November in the western Lake
Erie marshes have had totals as high as 1700 Gadwalls, but these aerial
surveys cover a lot of area, and to have 1300-plus visible from one spot on
the ground implies that exceptional numbers are present.

Kenn Kaufman
Rocky Ridge, Ohio

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