:-D I had over 139 species for Lucas County this month, and 154 species for
this migration period.  I was at Magee and Metzger marshes for about 5-6
times, and Oak Openings twice.

My observations are as follows.

Everything from the first wave was delayed about one to two weeks due to
the weather systems in late April/early May.

The second wave was close to on time, but it was mixed with the first
wave.

The third wave (female warblers and Flycatchers) is here now.

What is down in my observation is the amount of mayflies...once it does
warm up, the amount will be unbearable on the lake I have a feeling.

The weather did have a major factor in numbers and people seeing what
birds, the week had better diversity and numbers, then a system would come
through blowing everything to Canada just in time for the Big Sit...which
we had an above average 98, but no where near the record 112...would have
had 100 if the Whip-por-will and Pelicans had behaved. :-D

Anyhew, that is my observations.

Happy birding and God bless,

Steve J
On May 19, 2015 8:46 PM, "Sameer Apte" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Deb,
> I am currently doing a daily migrant census of the Shaker Lakes area for my
> high school senior project and have noticed the same trend. While I have
> recorded over 110 species in the area in the month of May alone and every
> single "expected" warbler species but Blue-winged and Connecticut, I have
> experienced remarkably low numbers this year and not a single "fallout" day
> (my highest day count is 60 species). I know that Julie West and Gary
> Neuman, who run the banding station at Shaker Lakes, have said the same
> thing about the migration. There simply is not much species richness on a
> certain given day, and not a whole lot of migration flux through the region
> on top of the Portage Escarpment. There seems to be much more movement on
> the Lake Plains, the Grand River valley, and the Cuyahoga valley.
> Looking at Victor Fazio's numbers from his 1979 census (available on
> eBird), his fallout days of 90, 74, and 69 species occurred on stormy/rainy
> mornings with a strong south wind (following one exception 5/12/1979 in
> which wind shifted to the north after a long spell of S wind, knocking
> migrants down). Please correct me if I am wrong, but the best conditions
> for fallouts on the Portage Escarpment in spring occur with the following
> conditions.
> 1) a strong south wind (>10mph) to blow the birds over the escarpment and
> not down into the valleys
> 2) a storm quite late at night to knock the birds down pre-lake.
> From my observations so far, I have observed that while we have had several
> nights of consistent, significantly strong South winds, there has not been
> a storm or wind change to knock them down to sites like the Shaker Lakes or
> Dike 14 and they shoot straight over to Canada. On the days on which there
> is a wind change, the S wind has not been strong enough to sustain a
> movement over the escarpment and they fly down the Grand and Cuyahoga
> valleys to sites such as Lake Erie Bluffs or Wendy Park.
> Hopefully, such conditions will manifest someday this spring, and we will
> be treated to a fallout in the Heights.
> Good birding,
> Sameer Apte
>
> On 19 May 2015 at 17:23, Deb <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > It's tough for those of us who have less flexibility in our schedules. I
> > have to block out birding time weeks in advance and it rarely lines up
> with
> > good weather and bird movement.
> >
> > I made two trips to Magee and Metzger~an even 100 miles door to door~and
> > thankfully both were good days. Dike 14 was marginal and now that it's
> > warmer, the ticks there are problematic. I live near Shaker Lakes and
> that
> > hasn't been great in recent years either. The best local birding I had
> was
> > at Lakeview Cemetery, and the day that there was a Swainson's thrush,
> > black-throated blue and Magnolia in my yard.
> >
> > It distresses me that other folks are seeing this decline as well. I hope
> > it's just that we're unlucky, rather than the more ominous possibilities.
> >
> > Deborah Smith
> > Cleveland Heights
> >
> >
> > > On May 19, 2015, at 12:15, Linda McConnell <
> > [log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > >
> > > I'm glad it's not just me. I took last week off work to bird close to
> > home
> > > - all the places you mentioned. And saw hardly anything. Very
> > > disappointing. I thought it was me.
> > >
> > > On Tue, May 19, 2015 at 11:31 AM, Laura Peskin <
> [log in to unmask]>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Since I'm not an a.m. birder (& no not sleeping -- just busy + our bad
> > am
> > >> weather), only place have seen migrating, non-nesting warblers has
> been
> > >> magee.  Like cake there.  Nearly impossible at all the other standbys:
> > >> Wendy pk., dike 14, le bluffs, headlands.  Weather related I think.
> > Also
> > >> early foliage this year.  Heard migrating warblers at a # of places.
> > >>
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