From Donna Kuhn
With rain and high winds predicted, planning a birding trip was challenging. We decided to attempt an emphasis on lake watching where we could return to our vehicles if the weather got too inhospitable.
Jen Brumfield offered to spend a few hours helping us to identify the birds flying by over Lake Erie. So after viewing the Cleveland skyline, we met her near the ginormous stairs at Lakewood Park. Our group, lined up with spotting scopes, created a fair amount of attention. Jen commented that someone asked her yesterday if she was whale watching-on Lake Erie! It wasn’t an hour later that an adult asked if we were watching dolphins!
We did not see any marine mammals, but we did see Common Loons, Black and Surf Scoters, Dunlin, Ring-billed and Boneparte’s Gulls, Common and Forester’s Terns. After 3 hours of lake watching, and with a few rain drops falling, we headed to some other lake viewing areas west of Cleveland.
We headed for the Rocky River Reservation with a stop at Calhoon along the way. The previously reported Red-necked Grebe was showing well, with some Horned Grebes, making for nice size and plumage comparisons.
The worsening weather and lack of reports of any unusual birds led us to make the decision to return to Worthington a little early for us. We were back by 3PM. One adventurous participant headed over to Springfield to see the Gray Kingbird that the rest of us had seen Wednesday.
37 species for the day:
Canada Goose
Northern Shoveler
Mallard
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
Black Scoter
Red-breasted Merganser
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Killdeer
Dunlin
Bonaparte’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Common Tern
Forster’s Tern
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
European Starling
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
House Sparrow