I drove out to Ottawa along with Jeremiah Roth today.
We passed by Medusa Marsh early, and saw little as it was pretty foggy.
Just past Medusa, near Clemons Marine, Jerry spotted 4 turkeys very close
the road. Also, there were large flocks(100's) of mixed blackbirds and
starlings
in the trees along the road.

While crossing the Edison Bridge, we observed quite a few ducks out and
what looked like
a single Common Loon. Proceeding westward on Rt 2, we saw about 100
Tundra Swans
in the water just before the Power Plant.

We then made our way to Maggee Marsh and drove along the causeway.
Highlights included a couple Rusty Blackbirds and a Tree Swallow.

The next stop on the tour was the auto tour. It was pretty slow at
first, though I did spot
a Kingfisher near the parking lot. A list of highlights follows:

Gr. Blue Herons
Tundra Swans
Trumpeter Swans
Snow Goose- a flock of about 12 flew over
Canada Goose
Gadwalls
Am. Wigeons
Canvasbacks
Redheads
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Bald Eagle  12
N. Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawks
Killdeer
Herring Gull
Ring-Billed Gull
Rusty Blackbird

A majority of the ducks were in the ponds along the exit road.

Next stop was Metzger Marsh. The place was teeming with birds as posted
on Thursday & Friday.
Many of the waterfowl seen at Ottawa were also seen here, but in much
larger numbers.
Also seen here were :
Mute Swan
Bald Eagle - 2
Carolina Wren
E. Meadowlark

 From Metzger, we headed back towards the Bay and Pickerel Creek WA.
Pickerel Creek was really jammin'.
Near the pump house on Rt 6 we spotted the following:

Canada Goose
Common Merganser- 20
Bald Eagle - 7
R T Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Cooper's Hawk

Further west on Rt 6 we stopped at the platform.
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan - 200
N. Pintail - 150
N. Shoveler
Gadwall
Am. Wigeon
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked duck
Scaup
Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle - 7
N.Harrier
R T Hawks - 5
Song Sparrows

We saw another Bald Eagle on the road west of PCWA, plus additional
ducks.

 From here, we drove the backroads into Castalia.  The duckpond was
populated
by many of the same ducks we had seen previously, but included a number
of Buffleheads.
We took a drive through Resthaven WA and added another 3 Bald Eagles to
the day's tally.

The drive back towards Cleveland gave us a chance to detour off to the
Lorain County Regional
Airport on Russia Road. We saw quite a few Kestrals and RT Hawks, but no
Rough-leggeds or
any other raptors of note.

All in all, it was a great day. The numbers of Tundra Swans was
unbelievable, and 30 Bald Eagles in a day
was definitely a personal high.


See you on the trails,


Chris Pierce
N. Olmsted, OH

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