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October 2010

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From:
Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
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Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 10 Oct 2010 09:32:09 -0400
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        Eight of us from Columbus joined a changing retinue of other wildlife
observers along the Crane Creek estuary yesterday. The weather was
superb, and the large retinue of birds present changed as well.
        Way off on the north side were rafts of waterfowl, with 500+ ruddy
ducks leading the most numerous. Closer were several hundred ring-billed
gulls, mostly floating, but a few standing in shallows. Three to four
hundred terns joined them, about 3/4 of them Forster's, all the rest
common terns; we never saw a single Caspian, oddly enough, and the lack
of black terns is beginning to be routine.
        Every 5-10 minutes during our 2+ hours at the site, the terns undertook
"dreads": these seemingly unprovoked group desertions of a roost are
seen the world over among terns. A few dozen would suddenly ripple into
the air, screeching, and just as quickly the entire roost was flying as
one in the same direction, then wheeling indecisively, and just as
suddenly returning to the roost. We were never able to determine a
visible cause for these movements; if there were raptors, they were way
too high for us to see them, and never became visible, though we looked
for them. The companion gulls ignored the terns, and the dreads seemed
to have no effect on the shorebirds, who did undertake more disorderly
bursts of flight at other times.
        Shorebirds were the treat, however, in this dry season. Their migration
is far from over. I counted 35 Hudsonian godwits and four mabrled
godwits; they stayed with the gulls and terns standing in shallows,
their longer legs aiding them in exploring a separate foraging area. The
Hudsonians were especially in need of nourishment, as their
uninterrupted flight of several thousand miles over the Atlantic is
coming soon.
         From ten-something to 1:30 we watched shorebird numbers grow. A long
bar of sand and mud extended into the larger estuary from the phragmites
along the narrow neck of the creek, and here hundreds of smaller
shorebirds trickled in. We didn't see any that were obviously adults;
some of the later migrants like the dunlins likely were, but they had
stopped to molt farther north earlier. There were about twenty young
black-bellied plovers, a few semipalmated plovers, fifty-plus
sanderlings, only a couple of the commoner peeps like least and
semipalmated sandpipers, numbers of dunlins that grew from a handful to
over fifty, a few stilt sandpipers, maybe a dozen lesser and a few
greater yellowlegs, and numbers of pectoral sandpipers that grew to 30+,
and a single white-rumped sandpiper. A few killdeers flew over, but I
never saw one touch down; they mostly occupied the diked impoundment
behind us. Young long-billed dowitchers probed deeper water, and three
red-necked phalaropes floated well offshore, with another one in the
impoundment.
        This ever-changing assembly of sixteen species, nearly all of the
hungry migrants headed someplace far away, kept us attentive for a long
while. Finally someone pointed out that the exposed bar had disappeared;
all the smaller birds had decamped. This was a big surprise for me, as I
had been looking elsewhere. The dowitchers remained, as did a few of the
larger plovers, and the godwits continued undeterred to probe offshore.
The terns were all now bobbing on the rippling creek. A handful of
dunlins, surprised by the tide, were uncomfortably paddling in the water
with the gulls. The water, pushed back by the wind, had risen only
several inches, but the habitat had changed radically, as had the number
of birds present.
        We had studied the weather forecast; mild winds from the south were to
rotate slowly into fresher winds out of the north late in the day. But
things had changed a bit faster, and north winds, unnoticed by me at
least, had gradually backed the creek outflow back into the channel
until food was rather suddenly out of reach for many birds by 1 pm.
        Most of these birds spend time foraging in salt-water situations, where
tidal changes are routine, but Ohio birders are not so accustomed to the
phenomenon today. I recall we saw it more commonly years ago, when
places like Metzger Marsh were open to the natural forces of the Lake,
and we planned visits there when southern or western winds were to blow
the water out and attract hungry birds, but now that the estuary's
comparatively narrow channel is the only public place where this
happens--rarely enough during the migrations--it has grown less familiar.
        Folks who want to see these birds here can probably increase their
chances of success by checking the weather. North and east winds are not
good, south and west are better, especially if they persist for a few
days. If the creek flow is reduced, it doesn't take as much wind to
expose habitat. After all, the minimum walk is 2 1/2 miles, though bikes
are allowed. You will be glad to have lugged a scope. Shorebirds are
abundant right now, but their numbers and variety will taper off into
November, when you can still see thousands of dunlins, scores of
long-billed dowitchers, and a few strays of other species there when the
water's right. And the numbers of waterfowl and gulls can be enormous at
that time.
        [Optional sermon. Seiches and blow-outs and violent storms and other
natural wind-related Lake Erie phenomena, have affected birds for
thousands of years here. They still occur, even at sites like Conneaut
harbor with its narrow off-line connection to the larger Lake, and this
little creek outflow is the best remaining place to observe it, and a
rare refuge for shorebird migrants. It is a pity--for sentimental bird
observers at least--and something closer to a tragedy for migrant
shorebirds, that we have sealed off so much of Lake Erie's natural shore
with dikes and breakwalls to protect property from occasional flooding,
impound water for duck-hunters, and make boating more foolproof. A
depressingly long list of bird species has suffered for it, but I guess
it's been good for carps. The forecasts of climatologists seem to
indicate that if current temperature trends continue, Lake Erie will
shrink radically, especially along its shallow western end, which will
become a vast dry basin, rimmed with mudflats miles away from the
then-useless necklace of dikes, and the birds will for a time have a
reprieve.]
Bill Whan
Columbus

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