If I were asked by someone to describe a typical November Avid Birders trip, I would probably describe a cold, windy day along the central basin of Lake Erie looking over large expanses of water. Birds such as scoters, jaegers, oldsquaws, black-legged kittiwakes, and purple sandpipers would be the quarry. Ninety-nine times out of 100, I would be right. November 20th proved to be that one out of 100 where I was wrong.
Fourteen Avids decided to break the long chain of central basin November trips on this memorable yet bizarre day. Hot on the heels of a report of a strange third-year gull at Huron Harbor, we decided to begin the day by sorting out roosting gulls at this mid-point lakeside location. Nothing strange about that–it was November and we were looking at gulls. Unfortunately we were unable to locate the mystery gull, but our palates were satisfied with an adult lesser black-backed gull (a lifer for two in the group). Further down the pier we surprised a small flock of common redpolls and witnessed an American pipit (more common in October and early November) fly in off of the lake.
Here is where the trip got weird. Instead of going east from Huron to visit our common winter hangouts (Lorain, Avon Lake, Rocky River, the Cleveland lakefront, etc.) the Avids went west to East Harbor State Park, Ottawa NWR, and Maumee Bay State Park. It was at East Harbor where we first thought we had been sucked into the twilight zone. The wind chill factor was not below 20 degrees and we were looking for passerines. One of the first birds we saw here was a Forster’s tern. Even late ones are supposed to be out of the state by the end of October. Just across the dike from the tern was an American white pelican lounging near a group of mute swans. Last time I checked, white pelicans (if they showed up) were supposed to be long gone by then. A state bird for some in the group nonetheless. Needless to say, we were puzzled. Especially since 42 great blue herons were observed in the area. We did locate waterfowl aplenty plus our first shorebird of the day–a lone killdeer relaxing on a mudflat. Our search for winter finches came up empty, but one group located a single snow bunting on the way in.
We went next to Ottawa NWR, where we decided to make the death-march out to the Crane Creek estuary. The one nice thing about the walk was that it was not 90 degrees with 99% humidity. It certainly wasn’t bone chilling cold though. Here we found birds more typical of a November trip, with the exception of a great egret. Twenty snow geese entertained the group as they milled around near 66 tundra swans. Ducks were in abundance and a peregrine falcon put on a show until a persistent gull swiped its meal. Two more killdeer added to our shorebird tally but we were unable to turn up much else.
Next to Maumee Bay where we searched for winter finches and buntings. The field areas were bleak–not even a sparrow–so we turned our eyes to the nature center feeders. The feeders were also devoid of life until a group of house sparrows came in. We hardly gave them a glance, but Bob in his infinite wisdom checked them over. We’re glad he did because one of the “sparrows” had a yellow breast. Low and behold, a female dickcissel in mid-November. We did not know what to do at this point. Our concept of time was totally shattered. We enjoyed the bird until it flew off with its foster flock. In a last ditch effort to find a winter bird, we went to the cabin area where we did locate the previously reported northern shrike. We watched it until dusk and ended our day with a serenade by a great horned owl in the nearby woodlot. I guess we ended up back in November after all with 70 species in our bag. Of course, we couldn’t find a blue jay or woodpecker other than downy to save our lives.
Total Species: 70
A = Huron Harbor
B = East Harbor State Park (West Harbor Trail)
C = Ottawa NWR
D = Maumee Bay State Park
R = Seen en route to that location
