Yesterday I took a walk about the bulk of the Shaker
  Lakes park area, the upper reaches of what is now the
  Doan Brook IBA. It was 30 years ago this week that
  I initiated my first formal bird survey... ever. It was part of a
  Fall /Spring migration survey attempting to answer
  how well a small park may reflect the bird diversity and
  phenology of the greater region. This was a hot topic
  at the time in the wake of the raging SLOSS debate ...
  the heated sometimes vitriolic debate over whether
  a Single Large or Several Small Sites would better
  preserve biodiversity (relevant to the structuring of
  wildlife refuge systems, etc.).

  So yesterday, mindful of the route I took 13 Aug 1978,
  I repeated that first census. The weather was cooperative
  as with regard to temperature, wind, cloud conditions were
  close to those of 30 years ago. Unfortunately, I
  must be on the road the 13th or I would have otherwise
  waited until Wednesday.

  Here is yesterday 9 Aug followed by (13 Aug 1978)

  Canada Goose - 1 (0)
  Wood Duck - 30 (8)
  [American Black Duck - 0 (18)]
  Mallard - 59 (43)
  Great Blue Heron - 8 (5)
  Green Heron - 2 (1)
  [Black-crowned Night-Heron - 0 (4)]
  [Northern Harrier - 0 (1)]
  [Red-tailed Hawk - 0 (2)]
  Cooper's Hawk - 2 (0)
  Killdeer - 3 (2)
  Spotted Sandpiper - 4 (5)
  Solitary Sandpiper - 5 (3)
  [Greater Yellowlegs - 0 (5)]
  [Lesser Yellowlegs - 0 (2)]
  Ring-billed Gull - 1 (26)
  Rock Pigeon - 23 (125)
  Mourning Dove - 18 (8)
  [Black-billed Cuckoo - 0 (1)]
  [Common Nighthawk - 0 (4)]
  Chimney Swift - 24 (24)
  Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1 (0)
  Belted Kingfisher - 2 (5)
  [Red-headed Woodpecker - 0 (1)]
  Red-bellied Woodpecker - 7 (0)
  Downy Woodpecker - 7 (4)
  [Hairy Woodpecker - 0 (2)]
  Northern Flicker - 7 (3)
  Eastern Wood-Pewee - 15 (1)
  Eastern Phoebe - 7 (1)
  Eastern Kingbird - 8 (1)
  Red-eyed Vireo - 3 (1)
  Warbling Vireo - 3 (0)
  Blue Jay - 7 (43)
  [American Crow - 0 (4)]
  Purple Martin - 0 (6)
  Barn Swallow - 6 (10)
  Black-capped Chickadee - 13 (24)
  Tufted Titmouse - 11 (14)
  White-breasted Nuthatch - 10 (0)
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 6 (0)
  House Wren - 1 (2)
  Carolina Wren - 1 (0)
  Wood Thrush - 1 (1)
  American Robin - 91 (82)
  Gray Catbird - 34 (31)
  [Brown Thrasher - 0 (3)]
  European Starling - 21 (5)
  Cedar Waxwing - 63 (24)
  [Blue-winged Warbler - 1]
  Yellow Warbler - 7 (1)
  [Blackburnian Warbler - 0 (1)]
  [Bay-breasted Warbler - 0 (1)]
  [Black-and-white Warbler - 0 (1)]
  [Northern Waterthrush - 0 (3)]
  American Redstart - 1 (0)
  [Wilson's Warbler - 0 (1)]
  [Canada Warbler -0 (1)]
  Indigo Bunting - 3 (0)
  Song Sparrow - 15 (9)
  Chipping Sparrow - 2 (0)
  Northern Cardinal - 30 (33)
  Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 1 (0)
  Red-winged Blackbird - 3 (10)
  Common Grackle - 58 (14)
  Baltimore Oriole - 3 (1)
  House Finch - 5 (1)
  American Goldfinch - 34 (14)
  House Sparrow - 31 (68)

  some observations to be drawn from the list
  ... evidence of the maturation of the forest
  around Shaker can be seen in the pewees,
  nuthatches, gnatcatchers, and woodpeckers such as
  Red-bellied ... first breeding in 1981 the
  species has largely supplanted the Red-headed
  Woodpecker locally. The warbler variety of
  '78 as well as the harrier indicate the early fall
  season that year, one possibly matched this season
  were I out again later in the week. Canada Goose and
  Carolina Wren were not breeding locally in 1978
  and House Finch arrived on the scene only the
  year before. The drop in corvid numbers is interesting.
  The loss of Purple Martins and American Black Ducks
  (both local breeders in 1978) reflects the broader
  declines in these species. I was pleasantly
  surprised by the 3 territorial Warbling Vireos as
  I don't recall ever having the species summer here
  let alone breeding.


  cheers

  Vic Fazio
  briefly in Shaker Heights, OH

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