On Tuesday, Nov 29, I spent a very windy and rainy day along the lakeshore
from Lorain harbor east to Sims Park in Euclid. Strong NE winds all day
created high waves that crashed on the rocks and shore making observation
difficult.
I started at Wellington Reservoir that had several common loons and horned
grebes, 500-1000 ruddy ducks, and a few odd ring necks, lesser scaup and
buffleheads, as well as the usual flock of Canada geese. Conditions were
very poor for observation with wind, rain and fog.
Lorain harbor was very windy and spitting rain when I was there from
10-11am. There were 10s of thousands of Bonaparte's gulls everywhere, but I
could not pick out anything special among them, despite a lot of time
trying. I did find a 2nd-year lesser black-backed gull swimming in a calm
area among lots of bonies and ring-bills. There were 10-15 common loons and
several horned grebes in the harbor close to the docks. At the marina,
there was a tightly packed flock of red-breasted mergansers that numbered
in the thousands.
I stopped at Avon power plant, but there was nothing there, the wind and
waves being too wild. At E. 55th st. marina, there were the same birds as
at Lorain, though not nearly as many.
My last stop was at Sims Park for the widely-reported scoters. Despite the
giant waves and stiff wind and rain that made observation very difficult,
they were there. What I saw were 3-4 surf scoters, including one adult
male, 5-6 white-winged female/immature, and 7-8 black females. There was
also a nice flock of 10-12 common goldeneye, plus the usual red-breasted
mergs.
So, not the most productive "day at the beach", but an adventure none the
less. Randy Rowe, Wooster
______________________________________________________________________
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]
|
