Greetings - 
A phenomenal day on the lake. The strong NNE winds opened up a major floodgate for waterfowl, with the first major movement of diving ducks. With the unusual SW winds the past several weeks, birds have been bottled up to the north and needed today's major push of winds. Two count locations today were run from dawn till 11 a.m. (Mentor count till about noon). Jerry Talkington, Ray Hannikman, and Emil Bacik did a Mentor count and Helen Taft, Larry Richardson and myself counted from Rocky River Park (Rocky River) from dawn till 11 a.m. 
THE KEY TO LAKEWATCHING: watch the weather forecast closely. Any winds with a NORTH component are excellent, particularly NNW accompanied by a cold front. ***Waterbird movement begins at dawn and typically reaches a peak around 9:30 a.m. almost like clockwork. Around 11 a.m. the action typically slows quite noticeably.*** Many times during good lakewatch days, folks will show up around 11 a.m. only to hear "you should have been here earlier." Additionally, keep in mind that these birds are on the move, pushing east and/or west, quickly. Scopes are very, very helpful if not necessary for following birds at a distance. For additional comments and weather forecasts and lakewatch predictions, multiple folks have joined together to predict bird movements on the blog site NorthNW. Multiple big-movement days have been predicted on-point: http://www.northnw.wordpress.com
COUNT TOTALS FROM ROCKY RIVER PARK: RED-THROATED LOON (1), Common Loon (400), RED-NECKED GREBE (1), Horned Grebe (600), Pied-billed Grebe (1), Canada Goose (6), SNOW GOOSE (2 blue morph), Mallard (250), American Black Duck (45), Gadwall (38), Northern Pintail (12), American Wigeon (13), Green-winged Teal (425), Canvasback (65), Greater Scaup (150+), Lesser Scaup (2000), LONG-TAILED DUCK (1), Surf Scoter (44), Black Scoter (52), White-winged Scoter (81), Common Goldeneye (14), Bufflehead (60), Hooded Merganser (4), Common Merganser (85), Red-breasted Merganser (2,800), Dunlin (850), RED KNOT (1), Sanderling (40), POMARINE JAEGER (1), Bonaparte's Gull (2,500), Ring-billed Gull (3,000), Herring Gull (600), Golden-crowned Kinglet (1 came off the lake at dawn), American Pipit (1), Snow Bunting (2). UNIDENTIFIED WATERFOWL (at horizon to 2 miles out): 10,500 individuals. 
COUNT TOTALS FROM MENTOR: Common Loon (30), Horned Grebe (40), Tundra Swan (9), BRANT (14), LONG-TAILED DUCK (5), HARLEQUIN DUCK (2), Surf Scoter (37), Black Scoter (22), WHITE-WINGED SCOTER (205), Common Goldeneye (45), Bufflehead (75), Northern Shoveler (3), Northern Pintail (15), American Wigeon (25), Green-winged Teal (42), American Black Ducks & Mallards (abundant), Canvasback (25), Redhead (15), Gadwall (60), Lesser & Greater Scaup (2,000), Common & Red-breasted Mergansers (MANY), Hooded Merganser (1), RED PHALAROPE (1 at count, 2 observed by Emil Bacik at Headlands lighthouse), Snow Bunting (120). 
best of birdingjb
                                          
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