Editor’s note: We have no pictures from this trip. It was so cold that our photographers would not take off their gloves to manipulate cameras!
A chilly, windy day found the Avids heading for the lake, where we knew it would be even colder and windier. There was just a trace of snow and no precipitation predicted, but 20 MPH winds made it seem much colder than the temperatures in the high 20s.
After the usual McDonalds breakfast stop, we arrived at Black River in Lorain. We carefully checked the hundreds of gulls in biting winds, but our search turned up only the small, medium, and large gulls usual to Ohio, including just one Great Black-backed Gull. A Bald Eagle flew down the river, dropping its prey seemingly by accident; surprisingly (to us, if not to the bird), it never returned for the deceased gull.
Lorain Harbor had thousands of gulls, but all were of the varieties previously seen. We found all 3 species of mergansers, with thousands of Red-breasted Merganser flying by. Ducks included American Wigeon, Mallard, and Common Goldeneye. Horned Grebes and American Coots completed our short list.
The coast guard station at Wendy Park beckoned, where the building fortunately provides a break from the winds. We added Ruddy Ducks and Double-crested Cormorants to our list. We were able to relocate the Eared Grebe that had been reported the previous day. The breakwall here had 15 Great Black-backed Gulls along with the usual Bonaparte’s, Ring-billed and Herring Gulls.
We next headed across town, stopping on the way to search Burke Lakefront airport for Snowy Owls, which we failed to find. But we were not disappointed at Sims Park, where the female King Eider that has been hanging around for about a month was still on station.
Since one of our group, a long time Avid Birder, had not seen the Brambling, we added a stop to give him this life bird. Since it was near the end of the day, we let Andy park his car and rush up the hill to observe the bird at the feeders and in the trees before it flew off for the day. Our drivers, taking care of logistics, missed the bird by about a minute! Both, however, had seen it before and made the sacrifice for the group, no doubt adding to their good bird karma in the process. We also added Brown-headed Cowbirds to our year list.
Hoping for another mega-rarity, we rushed off in search of the previously reported Kelp Gull at Springfield Lake, only to find that the lake was frozen; no gull were touching down. In a last-ditch effort for more species, we decided to try Mogadore Reservoir. Here we saw more Ring-billed and Herring Gulls; the open water had a Wood Duck, Northern Shovelers, American Wigeons, Mallards, and Canada Geese.
We ended up with 41 species, quite a respectable total for this time of year. Our day list follows:
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
American Widgeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Lesser Scaup
King Eider
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Pied-Bill Grebe
Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Bonaparte’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
American Robin
European Starling
American Tree Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Brambling
House Sparrow