Headed ou
Full post with pictures at: http://northnw.wordpress.com/


Headed out to Huron Pier in hopes of relocating the Eared Grebe 
reported yesterday by Dave Clark. Out at the lighthouse, I was 
confronted by scalding cold and savage winds – the type that make 
picking out a darker, pointier-headed grebe from the rest next to 
impossible.  There were 12 Horned Grebes in a tight bunch at the end of 
the pier – all with their heads tucked, spending most of their time out 
of sight in the troughs of three-foot waves.  It’s very possible the 
Eared was amongst these but as my scope covered, then froze over, with 
sea spray, I turned my attention elsewhere.

“Hey, that stick out on the ice is shaped like a Red-necked Grebe.”  I put my bins on it for kicks, and sure enough, there was a Red-necked 
Grebe, hunkered down on the ice of the frozen impoundment.

Grebes and loons  are notorious for mistaking wet parking lots and 
roadways for open water, and crash-landing in places they can’t fly out 
of.  That definitely seemed to be the case with this bird, as soon it 
began taxiing across the icy runway on NBA-sized feet in a futile 
attempt to get airborne.  This happened several more times as I 
watched.  The good news for this guy is there are plenty of dead fish 
for him to eat on the ice, if he so chooses.

Also present at Huron were a third-cycle “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gull and an adult Glaucous Gull.
I headed back west, canvassing unknown backroads in search of goose 
flocks, mostly.  No luck in that department, but a light-phase 
Rough-legged Hawk was found along Frailey Rd. in Vermilion – about a 
mile south of SR-6, just south of the railroad tracks.

A stop along the Black River in Lorain netted a Great Black-backed x 
Herring Gull (third-cycle).  This massive gull with slate-grey mantle 
definitely had a good dose of GBBG badass-ness.  I watched it for 
several minutes bully every much-smaller Herring Gull on its floating 
ice island.

Last stop, Avon Lake Power Plant.  I was greeted by a male Greater 
Scaup sitting in the parking lot.  It definitely is a bit of a downer to watch so many of the birds we know and love suffering this winter.

The ice moved in greatly since last night.  I took a quick jaunt to the 
end of the pier, where there were six White-winged Scoters in close, but no grebes.  A good number of ducks and a few more scoters were further 
east, with an adult Iceland Gull in their mix.  At this point, I decided to let the galeforce northeast wind push me back to the car.

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