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December 2009

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From:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 6 Dec 2009 11:22:56 -0500
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        Seven of us visited certain Lake Erie spots yesterday, with lengthier
stops at Huron, Lorain, Rocky River, and Eastlake. It was colder than
forecast, but I managed to get a sunburn all the same.
        The best spot was Avon Lake, where thousands of gulls, many of them
close by, included a surprisingly small percentage of ring-billeds. Four
adult lesser black-backed gulls were present. The gulls at Huron were
repeatedly spooked by gunfire, causing us to pass on a possible
California gull that joined the rest of the larger species in shifting
half a mile west. We, unlike others we heard about, at least were not
threatened by hunters.
        The spectacle of the day was long steady skeins of red-breasted
mergansers at Lorain, Rocky River, and Eastlake, nearly all speeding
west (into the wind), offshore at distances as close as 100 yds
(Eastlake) and as far as half a mile (Lorain). Having other fish to fry,
none of us concentrated exclusively on these, so these numbers are
conservative estimates, but I imagine in excess of 25 thousand passed
Lorain in 45 min, 1500 at Rocky River in half an hour, and 12 thousand
at Eastlake, where a flock of perhaps three thousand was in the water
and a long skein was still passing when we left after 25 minutes. At
Huron starting at dawn there were inconstant flocks passing well
offshore, but my attention was intermittent and I won't estimate their
numbers.
        If we'd had the leisure to do something systematic, we'd have watched
at both Eastlake and Lorain starting at sun-up, set up a count
protocol--as Vic pointed out, it's not hard to get a rough birds/minute
rate and watch to make sure how constant it is--then counted at both
sites till as long as we were sure westbound birds counted at Eastlake
wouldn't have reached Lorain. Then the count could be continued at
Eastlake--they were still going strong at 3 pm--until sundown. Actually,
if the Lorain numbers had remained steady all yesterday, they might have
reached a quarter million all by themselves.
Bill Whan
Columbus


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