Greetings birders -
A fantastic day in the field on a trip led by Gabe Leidy, myself; accompanied by an equally fantastic group of birders. Surely the big highlight today was watching no less than 75 (seventy-five) WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS fly due west over Rocky River Park. The birds were first located by sound; as each flocks muffled but noisy constant chyet- chyet-chyet chorus rang through the air. The first flock, of 30 birds, was mostly males. The birds could not be located again; and for good reason, as the Rocky River area is well-planted with conifers. We guessed Huntington Reservation, to the west of RRP, may have held a few; we came up empty. A good movement of siskins was going on as well.
Again, the BEST WAY to locate crossbills, siskins, and other finches, is to become as familiar with their calls as you are to your favorite songs on the radio. This allows you at least a few seconds of "heads up" time to search the skies for incoming/outgoing birds. Just reading their voice descriptions out of a field guide will do very little for you. It is highly recommended to use any of the numerous song/call CDs, or check out Cornell's websites for video call clips.
Otherwise the lake was completely placid today, making viewing of waterfowl easy. On the negative, since it was so gorgeous, the most massive flocks of waterfowl were sitting farther out onto the lake. Still, dozens upon dozens of skeins of mergansers came through. Goldeneye are becoming more numerous now.
HIGHLIGHTS:
ROCKY RIVER PARK
White-winged Scoter - 2 (fairly close in, straight north of the overlook)
White-winged Crossbill - 75
Pine Siskin - 140
HUNTINGTON RESERVATION
Pine Siskin - 45
HELEN TAFT'S PRIVATE ABODE
Black Scoter - 12
Surf Scoter - 16
White-winged Scoter - 3
AVON LAKE POWERPLANT
Mostly Ring-billed Gulls; larger gulls have dispersed since yesterday.
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1
BURKE LAKEFRONT AIRPORT
Snowy Owl - heavily marked immature
PERKIN'S BEACH "BLUFF"
Long-tailed Duck - 1 female
Numerous waterfowl including Bufflehead, goldeneye, Gadwall, scaup, etc.
Best of birding -
Jen
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