Hello All... Based on an earlier report by Joe Heldreth, we headed to Indian Lake at about 3:00 PM as Eared Grebe is a bird that we had missed last year. Arriving at Old Field Beach, on the W side of Indian Lake, the only gull with a black head was a Bonaparte's Gull, along with about 6 Ring-billed Gulls and a dozen or so Forster's Terns. We were joined later by Dan, Lynn, and Jane Gesualdo, from the Cleveland area, and based on a phone call and tip from Troy Shively who lives in the area, we expanded our search to include some wet fields to the S of SR 33, for shorebirds that he had seen there earlier in the week. We were surprised to find that there were far more gulls (about 70) foraging in these wet fields than shorebirds, including the adult Laughing Gull in full breeding plumage! Shorebird numbers were not great, but included Lesser Yellowlegs, a handful of Black-bellied Plovers, about 8 Semi-palmated Plovers, along with several Dunlin and and
 Pectoral Sandpipers. Also present were 3 Turkey Vultures and an immature Bald Eagle.
 
On the way back to Columbus, we stopped at the Marysville up-ground reservoir on Raymond Road (just NW of Marysville) to look for an Eared Grebe that was reported on Wednesday, May 1st, by Bill Lynch. It isn't often that you get to see Eared Grebes in full breeding plumage during their migration through Ohio, but the big surprise was that there were two of them, diving/feeding with several Lesser Scaup and Ruddy Ducks. Moving into position so that the sun was to our backs, these grebes were stunningly beautiful, with their red eyes, and that golden 'fan' of feathers behind each eye and extending below it. The birds were in fairly close, and Danno was able to get some great pics of these birds, for documentation and for some great memories!
 
Good Birding!
 
Dan Sanders
Columbus area  


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