So, after looking for Redpolls all around the Lake Erie Shoreline yesterday (and striking out completely) I looked out my own home window today a half an hour ago and was like, hey what is that bird on the finch feeder? It was a Common Redpoll! And it was soon joined by 2 others. They have been coming to the front and back thistle feeders several times now. I got some good photos! So that was very exciting.
The Lake yesterday; the weather was kind of dreadful but it could have been much worse, it wasn't very windy at all and the rain wasn't too cold or too heavy. As reported already Dan Sanders and I hit the Lakewood Cemetery pretty much first thing and we were looking for Redpolls while keeping in mind that the Bohemian Waxwing was reported in the vicinty the day before. We cruised around the loop around the Mausoleum twice or so and then we saw the Waxwings in a large flock (40ish then joined by more for a total of around 70 birds prob.). The first bird that caught each of our attention was the Bohemian Waxwing, since it stood out as being larger. We could seen the wing markings with bino's and then they flew over head after I'd gotten out to try and get a scope on them. The Bohemian in flight was quite reminiscent of a Starling as it flew over. They began feeding in the crab-apple tree that was near the road (not the loop but a more central drive) the tree has a single wreath beneath it. There were Robins feeding there also. The waxwings would all land up in a high deciduous tree and then make sorties down to the apples. We were ecstatic at the great views we had of the great birds. They really stand out as being bulkier, grayer (no yellow belly) and their crests are differently shaped, not to mention the fairly obvious wing markings. They may be making a feeding circuit thru the cem. and the surrounding area, so maybe parking at the Cemetery is a decent idea. There are other details about these birds at www.rarebird.org under the section for n.east ohio.
We then hit Lakewood Park and found a Ross's Goose with a group of Canada Geese. They were pestering it occaisionally and on top of that the crows were chasing the poor little goose. I also got photos of this bird. Out on the water from here was a White Winged Scoter and some other ducks (R.B. Mergs in large flocks, Com. Goldeneye, etc.). We then drove to E. 72nd street where we failed to locate the California gull, but did find a Lesser Black-backed Gull. Then onwards we went west to Lorain. There we couldn't relocate the B.L. Kittiwake, but marveled at the spectacle of tens of thousands of Bonaparte's Gulls all around us! It was neat. Dan said that there may not be any other place in the lower 48 that you could see such a large congregation of Bonies. We continued west and made it to BSBO at Ottawa and failed to turn up much other than Carolina Wrens, Chickadees, Am. Tree Sparrows, Goldfinch, etc. When driving around we did spy an adult Bald Eagle to end the day. Luckily the rain did end a little before and we had a decent finish to the day, a very good day of Birding.
here is a link to my digi-scope photos including Redpolls, Bohemian Waxwing, and Ross's Goose.
http://mvnu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2009065&l=c2c3b&id=164901416
if you can't see the photos on the link, email me and I'll try to help, you shouldn't have to join facebook to see this public link, so perhaps try a different computer or browser to access them first.
- Ben Warner
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