Greetings birders - 
 
This morning the shores of Lake Erie were blustery with sustained NNE winds at 25+mph. Birds were moving wildly along the coast. I was really hoping to get my heart jumping with a jaeger or something of the sort but alas nothing in the way of real "seabirding" came about. Between 9am and 11am I set up shop off the jetty at Avon Lake and scanned the horizon religiously with my scope. Amazingly, I was glad I'd brought along my wool hat and thick windbreaker, as my eyes started to tear up quickly in the almost-like-November weather. 
 
Any sort of distant lake-or-sea watching is not exactly an easy task. Typically in sustained winds and "rough" white-capped water your scope views are relatively brief and often strained. Coupled by birds typically moving at a high rate of speed and low over the water...and you have the makings for a really sore pair of eyes after repeated scans. 
 
The following list of birds were mostly very distant. Both species of teal were seen in broken numbers associating with passing small flocks of Mallards. Swift and martin are included because they were high out over the lake associating with soaring "kettles" of gulls. Three yellowlegs of unidentified species flew over at an ungodly height, and a passing flock of Black-bellied Plovers was so distant it took an entire 180 degree field of view, following the flock on the horizon with my scope, to finally be certain of the call on ID. Seawatching rocks. 
 
"Seawatch" at Avon Lake: 
Mallard - 40+
Green-winged Teal - 15
Blue-winged Teal - 30
unidentified duck spp - 20
Double-crested Cormorant: 450 
Black-bellied Plover - 11 (single flock)
Sanderling - 8
yellowlegs sp - 3
Ring-billed Gull - 600+
Herring Gull - 60+
Great Black-backed Gull - 1
Bonaparte's Gull - 24
Caspian Tern - 4
Chimney Swift - 100+
Purple Martin - 25
 
 
 
Lorain Impoundment adjacent to Spitzer Marina: 10 spp shorebirds
The majority of the birds were encountered in the southernmost mudflat (immediately north of the parking lot upon walking ontop of the dike) and northeasternmost corner of the impoundment. Shorebirds were joined by a flock of 16 Green-winged and 8 Blue-winged Teal, very very flighty birds. 
 
Killdeer - 4
Semipalmated Plover - 13
Baird's Sandpiper - 3
White-rumped Sandpiper - 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 30
Least Sandpiper - 25
Stilt Sandpiper - 1
Pectoral Sandpiper - 8
Short-billed Dowitcher - 2
Lesser Yellowlegs - 6
 
Other: 
Osprey - 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 1
Yellow Warbler - 14
Common Yellowthroat - 4
 
 
best of birding- 
jen
 
Jen Brumfield
[log in to unmask]
Sharon Center, OH
 
 
 
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