I went to Sims Park in Euclid this morning from 10:35 to 10:50am.  The strong cold northwest winds made seeing the birds difficult for me as I was too cold to go to the higher bluff to find all of the ducks.  I was able to count at least 85-90 Common Goldeneye, multiple hundreds of Red-breasted Mergansers in the water (mostly males) and saw five Northern Pintails flying west.

I then went to Villa Angela and Wildwood State Parks in Cleveland from 11:15 to 3pm.  The lake and creek is melted by the marina is still frozen.  I ran into Mark Anderson from 1 to 3pm and as I walked by places a second time was able to see more birds with Mark.  Here are only a few of the birds we saw:

Villa Angela & Wildwood
Bald Eagle 1 adult (flew over Wildwood near Euclid Creek just north of Lakeshore parking lot then headed northeast)
American Black Ducks 2 (Wildwood Euclid Creek)
Cooper's Hawk 1 - Villa Angela
Dark-eyed Juncos 9+
Northern Mockingbird 1 (Villa Angela field near library)
White-crowned Sparrow 1 (1st year) in Villa Angela - didn't have particularly dark lores, bill kind of pinkish but not dark pink, looked like either West Taiga or East Taiga in Sibley.  It was giving the buzzy call which is how I first heard it.  Mark saw & heard this bird also on 2/13 near where they feed the birds near the lake at the mobile home park.  We saw it at the double fence line near mobile home park in the woods but not that far from lake.  It was with a Cardinal or the Cardinal was following it so it was easy to find as they flew up in the trees then down to the ground.

Common Grackle 2 (Villa Angela fence line & Wildwood island)


Yesterday (2/18) in Warrensville Heights northwest of Richmond & Miles Rd on my morning walk break around 10:15am I could hear at least three Red-winged Blackbirds calling.  Apparently, being near the lake today it was too windy and cold for them to arrive at Villa Angela/Wildwood.

Nancy Anderson
Richmond Hts, OH
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nancy_a/

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