Two cattle egrets were seen flying by Lake Erie Bluffs in Lake County about 9:00 this morning. Both were in breeding plumage and were flying west out over the lake. There were quite a few great blue herons (26) and great egrets (9) migrating out over the lake. There were tons of blue jays moving. In 2 1/2 hours I counted 8,770 and I missed a lot while looking at other stuff. I also had around 500 American goldfinches. Typically I get numbers like this the first week of May. I was on the observation tower off Clark Road watching everything flying by. I had 7 species of warblers just from the top of the 50' tower so there were undoubtedly a lot more moving if you spent time searching the woods and fields. Also of note were 17 red-bellied woodpeckers all headed east. They move every other year along the lake. I noticed this back when I was banding.There were also small numbers of titmice, chickadees, downy woodpeckers, and cardinals moving the same years as the woodpeckers. Our totals from the Lake Erie Island Christmas Bird Count match this trend also.


Lake Erie Bluffs- Clark Road, Lake, Ohio, US
Apr 27, 2017 6:15 AM - 9:15 AM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments:     Partly cloudy with strong south winds. I viewed from the 50' observation tower. Blue jays were moving constatly and there really was no time that you didn't see any.
72 species (+2 other taxa)

Canada Goose  16
Wood Duck  1
Mallard  4
Hooded Merganser  1
Red-breasted Merganser  439
Common Loon  2
Great Blue Heron  26
Great Egret  9
Cattle Egret  1     two cattle egrets in breeding plumage were observed flying west out over the lake.
Turkey Vulture  146
Osprey  2
Sharp-shinned Hawk  8
Bald Eagle  3
Broad-winged Hawk  8
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Bonaparte's Gull  1
Ring-billed Gull  622
Herring Gull  39
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Caspian Tern  21
Forster's Tern  1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  1
Mourning Dove  8
Chimney Swift  6
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  17
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  16
Pileated Woodpecker  1
Least Flycatcher  2
Eastern Phoebe  1
Eastern Kingbird  1
Blue-headed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  8770     Blue jays were constantly migrating along the lake. There was no time that some were not visible. There were a few flocks that totaled 500-800 birds.
American Crow  16
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  135
Purple Martin  46
Tree Swallow  79
Bank Swallow  8
Barn Swallow  62
swallow sp.  300
Black-capped Chickadee  1
House Wren  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2
Hermit Thrush  6
Wood Thrush  1
American Robin  37
Gray Catbird  12
Brown Thrasher  1
European Starling  122
American Pipit  4
Cedar Waxwing  6
Blue-winged Warbler  1
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Nashville Warbler  2
Yellow Warbler  18
Palm Warbler  11
Pine Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  103
Chipping Sparrow  2
White-crowned Sparrow  2
White-throated Sparrow  34
Song Sparrow  11
Eastern Towhee  1
Northern Cardinal  6
Red-winged Blackbird  244
Common Grackle  112
Brown-headed Cowbird  174
Orchard Oriole  1
Baltimore Oriole  2
American Goldfinch  566
passerine sp.  400


John Pogacnik

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