Emil Bacik and I arrived before the sun at Eastlake Power Plant (Lake Co.) this morning and good-sized flocks of Bonaparte's Gulls were already streaming east.  After watching from this vantage for 30 minutes or so, and noting an ad. Lesser Black-backed Gull but little else, we opted to move slightly east to Sunset Park in Willoughby, which places you atop a bluff overlooking the lake - and offers a much wider perspective overall.  The move paid off, and we, along with Jerry Talkington and Suzanne Wagner a bit later, enjoyed the best lakewatch of this season.  Highlights:

Brant  4
Long-tailed Duck  4
White-winged Scoter  3
Surf Scoter  2
scoter sp.  3
BLACK-HEADED GULL  1  ad
Little Gull  2  imm

Consequently, the Little, and then Black-headed Gull, pushed me up and over 300 species for the state this year - now up to 301!

We continued east along the Greater Cleveland lakefront, finding all three scoters at Sim's Park (Black 10, Surf 1, White-winged 1) and a flyby siskin, and at Edgewater SP we ran into Dick & Jean Hoffman, who were on three Black and another Surf Scoter.

The Bonie movements of the past couple days have deposited birds all along the Cleveland lakefront, though many are resting at a great distance, so they are difficult to sort through.  The harbor north of Wendy Park and east past the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, contained more gulls than I have ever seen here.  Ring-billeds were the dominant species, with quite a few Bonaparte's in the mix.

Good birding -
Gabe Leidy
Cleveland

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