A group of us spent Saturday in NE Ohio. Early in the day we had four
female evening grosbeaks in S. Russell in Geauga. A siskin was the best
bird at nearby West Woods park; no grosbeaks seen through 10:30, and
apparently no sightings there from the day before. While waiting, I
spent a while seeking the source of an interesting call before I
discovered it was the sound of Brad Wilkinson's camera shutter.
        Various Erie shoreline spots were visited for migrants. East of
Eastlake very few birds around. Loons were quite scarce, and the low
numbers of red-breasted mergansers were remarkable. A few snow buntings
at Headlands, and a flight of ~150 tundra swans (the only ones of the
day). Eastlake power plant hosted a few hundred gulls, with a single
greater black-backed inching the species count up to four. Mergs hard to
find.
        Sims Park yielded low numbers of buffleheads, l. scaups, goldeneyes,
r-b mergs, and a number of horned grebes, along with two black scoters
and a surf scoter.
        Inland, the Oberlin reservoir had ruddy ducks in three figures, and
scattered redheads, ring-necked ducks, mallards, lesser scaups,
buffleheads, and hooded mergansers, and a single Canada goose. At
Wellington Res, an exposed mud island was a shock, with the water level
down maybe five feet. Small numbers of mallards, gadwalls, green-winged
teals, ring-necks, scaups, buffleheads, and hooded mergs were picked out
from hordes (2000+) of ruddy ducks and coots (~1500).
Bill Whan
Columbus

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