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December 2009

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From:
Victor Fazio <[log in to unmask]>
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Victor Fazio <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 1 Dec 2009 15:43:16 -0800
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This has been an interesting discussion of a subject that I have 
followed for some time. After Mark Shieldcastle's succinct 
summation, I've been looking for a way to contribute. I'll begin
by answering John's call for some numbers. Here I 
provide a brief annotation through the years of what little
we know. 

In the following series, please take note of the dates when
offered, as well as the respective basin of Lake Erie. Briefly,
Lake Erie is comprised of 4 major baythmetric basins, the
Western, Sandusky, Central, and Eastern; each quite different
from the other in depths, bathymetric features, temp. regime,
wave action, and other characteristics. 

I strongly recommend that every birder wishing to understand 
something of the waterbird usage of Lake Erie make a point of
studying Lake Erie bathymetrics ... here is a good place to
start ...
 http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/greatlakes/lakeerie_cdrom/html/e_gmorph.htm

In practice, the Western and Sandusky Basins are sufficiently 
similar avifaunally that observations from the two are typically 
lumped together in the literature. However, for a few species 
including Red-breasted Merganser it could be instructive to 
partition out these records.

Any review of the status of a species need start with Bruce
Peterjohn's accounts within his two editions of The Birds of Ohio.
I'll leave the reader to those specifics but note here his statement 
that " the huge flights within the Central Basin were not evident
until the 1960's".

1960's:
The earliest of these huge numbers of which I am 
aware is that of the 112,000 est. by Edward Bosak 14 Nov 1968
within the Western Basin (in Trautman & Trautman, Birds
of Western Lake Erie 2006).

1970's:
Reports of this magnitude seem to remain sporadic until 
1977-78 although this may be an artifact of reporting.
As John Pogacnik pointed out, there is nothing in the CBC 
record to reflect this increase as the flights or staging events
subsided shortly after the first few days of December. By
1978 we saw the species top out at 250,000 when Jim Fry
and the Hoffmans noted that number off Huron  (Sandusky 
Basin) 19 Nov. We also now see concentrations farther east in the 
Central Basin around 1 Dec such as the 4000 off Cleveland 
in 1979 (Bill & Nancy Klamm).

[about this time, a professorial type from CA writes a letter
to the editor (I think Am. Birds but my recollection is sketchy) 
refuting even the possibility that these numbers could be 
estimated on a lake ... apparently unaware that these were 
flights past a given point lasting 2-6 hrs. At a snooze pace 
of a flock of 10 birds every 10 secs (most anyone can count 
10 birds in 10 secs) this adds up to 3600 birds per hr and before
long you've got in excess of 20,000. Now triple that pace
and add a second stream of birds a few hundred yards farther
from shore, and do the math. Wonder what he'd make of 
Bruce Peterjohn's remarkable evening flight of 100,000 in
the space of 10 minutes as cited in both editions of The
Birds of Ohio.]

This approximate population level was to be noted by several
different observers over the next 15 years before a gradual
drop off to today's levels, a drop-off of an order of 
magnitude.

1980's:
From John Poganick we know a quarter million was once
more est. for the peak flight past Vermilion (at the cusp of the 
Central and Sandusky Basins) in 1984. That year the 
secondary peak of Dec birds settling off Cleveland reached
10,000 on the 5th (Tom LePage).

For my part, my first hand experience came Nov 1985
covering the Huron to the Conneaut collectively
over several days accounting for about 140,000. It was 
2 weeks later that
an aerial survey of the Western Basin estimated 210,000.
It remains a debate in my own mind whether these were
overlapping or separate concentrations.

In 1987, a census from Lorain to Eastlake produced 145,000
birds (in the Cleveland Bird Calender).

Keep in mind not all years saw these high counts but 
seeing tens of thousands certainly was the norm. In 1988,
Larry Rosche wrote of that year's Nov flock "The 
enormous flock of 100,000 Red-breasted Mergansers
along the Cleveland Lakefront was not out of character for 
the species". 

For all these glimpses at what was certainly a dramatic
phenomenon, we remained largely ignorant of what brought
the species here, and what governed behaviour once 
along the south shore of Lake Erie. In something of an 
understatement Peterjohn (1989) was to write "despite
careful observations from shore, our understanding of
their movements is poor." It has not improved since.

That same year I was intrigued 
by the question of just how many are along the south
shore at one time. In 1989, I coordinated the
Lake Erie Waterbird Survey modeled after something 
in the Hamilton/Toronto area. This 12 Nov count,
involving about 15 observers from Huron to Conneaut,
produced 173,000 birds including 103,000 off
Cleveland and 54,000 off Lorain. 

1990's:
In 1990, I lucked into a flight off Old Woman Creek,
(adjacent to Huron) that lasted 2.5 hrs numbering 
98,000 birds. Later on the 25th, in same county, Kirk 
Alexander had 100,000. Another 27,000 were reported
off Cleveland.

A year later, we read in The Cleveland Bird Calendar
that "numbers defied calculation" off the Central Basin
while Brock in North American Birds reported 220,000 
for 14 Nov at Sandusky (Sandusky Basin). 

And in 1993, the 120,000 off Erie 8 Nov (Kirk Alexander)
coupled with 40,000 just west of the Cuyahoga R. (Bill
Klamm) suggested species was still doing well here.

In 1994, few concentrations were reported but scattered
flocks accounted for only about 97,000 birds (no more than
40,000 off Erie County 27 Nov).

1995 was strong with a Lake County record 75,000 
passing Fairport Harbor ... but otherwise the species
drew little attention from elsewhere.

1996: I had 42,000 off Huron 20 Nov with various flocks 
of 4000 to 10,000 noted elsewhere in the literature.

1999: I matched my 1996 count of 42,000 off Old 
Woman Creek 7 Nov, while John Pogacnik had almost
24,000 off Lakeshore MP 25 Nov. 

2000: 24,000 are reported off Cleveland 12 Nov and
Tom and I have the 12,900 from Kelleys Island 
(virtually all as a distant movement off Marblehead
heading west).

The present decade: 
2001: Joe Hammond reports 50,000 off Sherod 
Park 11 Nov but few other reports are received.

2002-03: generally reports are 10-15 thousand max,
although Bill Whan may fill in gaps here as those
issues of The Ohio Cardinal are not with me here in Lawton.

2004: The last year for which I have a sizeable observation,
a flight of 37,000 off the beach at Magee Marsh 11 Nov ... 
my only such observation for the Western Basin.

I think most readers can judge the years since from
personal experience and the reading of this listserv. 

It should be noted that the estimates I cite are from 
trusted observers where their counting methods were 
known or otherwise corroborated. By the way, in
every instance I observed a flight it was E to W. 
And every instance of settled concentrations they 
were either in the immediate vicinity of a hot water
outlet or near the mouth of a river where effluent waters 
mix with those of Lake Erie. I consider this a littoral 
species on Lake Erie* and would be surprised to find it 
out in open water in any numbers but with one exception 
... that being along the Pelee-Lorain ridge that separates 
the Sandusky Basin from the Central Basin.

*In 2 fall seasons, 1984,1985 at the height of the
species' prominence along the south shore, I counted
waterfowl daily along the north shore in the Eastern Basin.
At the tip of Long Point, ON through
Oct and Nov, while deep water ducks such as
Long-tailed Duck (tens of thousands), and scoters 
(thousands) were encountered in large numbers,  it
was exceptional to see more than a few hundred
Red-breasted Mergansers. High counts of 1800
to 2000 were had only from shallower inland 
embayments.

I offer this up not for the questions it will answer ...
likely none ... but perhaps to hone the questions we
may ask and otherwise fuel further speculation.

cheers

Vic Fazio
Lawton, OK

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