Hi all,
I had an interesting conversation with Scott Hale, who is fish
administrator for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Scott informed me that
there was an abnormally late hatch of gizzard shad throughout Ohio last
year, and that the fish were exceptionally plentiful. Because of this,
when winter hit, the fish were smaller than normal and less able to cope
with tough winter conditions.
This winter has been a rough one, and conditions for semi-hardy shad in
the reservoirs have not been hospitable, especially with all of the
prolonged ice cover. Because of this, there have been enormous die-offs
of last year's shad class, thus creating a bonanza of food for
fish-loving gulls. Shad are abundant in many if not most of the large
reservoirs throughout Ohio, and these die-offs were widespread. This is
probably the case in other surrounding states as well.
So, it seems likely that an abundant source of easily obtained food, and
one that isn't available most winters, has been the driver luring the
masses of gulls to inland reservoirs. The ice cover/cold water
temperature/shad die-off phenomena is a regular winter occurrence along
Lake Erie, and is why places like East 72nd Street at the power plant
are so good when the lake ices over. But we don't often see this at
inland lakes, at least to the degree that it happened this winter.
This situation also speaks to the amazing ability of highly mobile and
opportunistic birds to quickly recognize a new food source, and
capitalize on it.
Jim McCormac
Jim McCormac
Ohio Division of Wildlife
2045 Morse Rd., G-3
Columbus, Ohio 43229
614-265-6440
614-262-1143 fax
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