Often, late March Avids trips focus on migrants, with a mix of waterfowl, early neotropical migrants, and shorebirds. While the calendar said March 28, which is a date that is well into spring, the weather said otherwise, with high temperatures projected in the mid-20s and north winds – not exactly conducive for strong pushes of early warblers and shorebirds. Therefore, our trip on this cold day was one targeting specific birds, not general birding to take in migration. Consulting bird reports from the previous week, the Avid leaders decided to focus on the Funk area of northeastern Ohio in the morning, then move north to Cleveland for the afternoon, hitting several areas where rare and interesting birds had been seen.
Six intrepid Avids meet in the Worthington Mall parking lot in the pre-dawn darkness, braving single-digit temperatures and quickly hustling into vehicles to begin the trip (and get out of the cold). Our first stop was the traditional Evening Grosbeak location in Mohican State Forest, where we spent an hour shivering, awaiting the arrival of a single female grosbeak. In the past, this house has played host to flocks with as many as 20 grosbeaks, but the trend has been downward in the past years, and it very well may be the case that Ohio birders will have to look elsewhere for this species in coming years. After about 45 minutes, target bird #1 made her brief appearance, allowing looks by half the group, before disappearing again. In the meanwhile, we managed to add quite a few species to our trip list, including Eastern Phoebe, Pine Warbler, Fox Sparrow, and Pileated Woodpecker, among others. The cold finally overcame us, and we headed back to the cars to move onward (although belated emails received after we had progressed farther afield into areas with cell phone reception revealed that, of course, the bird showed up again 10 minutes after we departed).
Moving on, the tiny town of Perrysville, north of Mohican, was our next stop. This sleepy village is playing host to a Eurasian Collared-Dove, and about 15 minutes of slowly driving the streets eventually turned up target bird #2, which obligingly flew up to a telephone line and perched, allowing point-blank views – much more satisfying than the Evening Grosbeak allowed! The Funk area was next on the itinerary, as it is typically a waterfowl bonanza at this time of year.
As we turned onto Wilderness Road, a freak snow squall began, which was to last until just before we left the Funk region. The snow limited visibility and may have kept blackbird flocks down, meaning that we missed target bird #3, a Yellow-headed Blackbird that had been reported the day before along Schwartzwalder Road. However, we made up for missing the quality bird with quantities of birds: hundreds of Canvasback and Northern Pintail along Wilderness Road, and several Tundra Swans along Schwartzwalder, despite the fact that several areas which had previously been open water were now covered with ice and snow. The sun came out and the snow stopped as we stopped at the Funk Bottoms Wildlife Area, which was partially iced over, but played host to thousands of waterfowl, including an amazing 320 Tundra Swans and a stupendous count of at least 2,000 Northern Pintail.
A brief stop at a set of small ponds southwest of Orrville was a no-show for target bird #4, Eurasian Wigeon –reported that morning but gone by the time we arrived. Two blue-morph Snow Geese were a consolation prize. Now it was time to head to Cleveland and try for target bird #5, Fish Crow. Arrival at the Fish Crow nesting location in Shaker Heights was delayed by construction on I-271, but when we finally made our way to the neighborhood in Shaker Heights, we faintly heard a nasal cawing. Following the sound, we made our way deeper into the neighborhood, and were rewarded with a single calling Fish Crow, who allowed very brief views before taking a cue from target bird #1 and departing.
The Avids munched on a late lunch, hoping for a return visit from the Fish Crow, but with the day progressing and needing to return to Columbus at a reasonable hour, the group moved on to Wendy Park, home to thousands of Red-Breasted Mergansers, Herring Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, and lots of very cold northern breezes. Scanning through the massive flocks turned up a few Great Black-backed Gulls, a single Bonaparte’s Gull, and an adult Glaucous Gull, along with a handful of duck species.
Despite the cold, windy weather that kept songbirds hiding and made shorebirds decide to put off any early migratory feats, the group managed to rack up 58 species of birds, and hit three out of five target birds for the trip, with 58 species observed. A complete list follows.
Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
(Greater Scaup – I thought someone called one at Wendy Park but I never identified one myself)
Lesser Scaup
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Killdeer
Bonaparte’s Gull
Ring-Billed Gull
Herring Gull
Glaucous Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler
American Tree Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Goldfinch
Evening Goldfinch
House Sparrow