OHIO-BIRDS Archives

September 2010

OHIO-BIRDS@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
jen brumfield <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
jen brumfield <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:01:32 +0000
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (32 lines)
Greetings birders - 
The forecast along the lakefront this week looks EXCELLENT for lakewatching opportunities. Lakewatching isn't the easiest genre of birding, but the rewards can be exceptional. Cold temps and high winds often necessitate gloves and coats and hats. But this is the time of the year to be looking for the rare and the very rare: Long-tailed Jaeger, Sabine's Gull, Parasitic Jaeger, Little Gull, Red Phalarope, and more. Oftentimes, views of birds are quick and sometimes distant but definitely exciting. Keep in mind birds are typically moving ahead of a front and are focused on moving east. A typical lakewatch this time of the year, or this week, will turn up plenty of Ring-billed and Herring Gulls, cormorants, Mallards, some Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, perhaps a few Great Black-backed Gulls, Chimney Swifts, and perhaps some raptors. We could see the first solid push of Bonaparte's Gulls and Common Terns this week which often is a harbinger for the rare "wanted" species. 
Spotting scopes are HIGHLY recommended. Get yourself to a high point (bluff) with as unobstructed and large a view of the lake as possible. Huron to Conneaut offers the best sightings possibilities, realizing that that's a large coverage area. The more folks that are out, the more that will be found. You'll need to constantly scan back and forth along the horizon. Waiting for birds to fly right by you, in close, will have you missing MANY birds moving quickly by out on the lake. 
Migrant passerines will also be abundant with nightly NNW winds. Keep checking your local lakefront parks for little fallouts. 
BEST TIMES FOR LAKEWATCHING: Typically we start our watches at 7:30 a.m. and go till 1 or 2 p.m., depending on sightings of course. It seems that, so far this year, some of the best action has occurred between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. as birds push east ahead of fronts. 

FORECAST
MONDAY : WNW winds up to 20 mph, turning to W at 12mph through the afternoon
TUESDAY: WNW winds at 10 in the morning, turning to solid NW at 10mph through the rest of the day
WEDNESDAY: N winds at 10 mph
THURSDAY: as of now, SSW winds predicted (NOT a good lakewatch day)
FRIDAY: NNW winds at 10 mph
SATURDAY: as of now, WSW winds predicted (not a good lakewatch day)
SUNDAY: NNW winds at 12mph

best of birding -Jen

Jen Brumfield 
[log in to unmask]
Cleveland, Ohio
330-701-6452
www.jenbrumfield.com                                      
______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]

ATOM RSS1 RSS2