Everyone having been forewarned by the miracle of electronic mail, only the avidest, or at least the most reckless, of Avids showed up for the pre-dawn briefing on 26 August, for we had announced a trip to Conneaut, the all-but-Pennsylvania destination, reaching which takes as much time as an eleven-inning baseball game or a triple bypass operation. Our party of nine arrived there about 9 am, to find two other larger groups of birders and a few smaller ones. By the end of our visit we’d run into perhaps 60+ other birders, a total which, when added to those of dog-walkers, off-roaders, fishers, jet-skiers, dope-smokers, metal-detectors, and apparent idlers probably brought the number of hominids beyond that of shorebirds.
We did not concern ourselves long with the decent-sized larid flock, which contained a few dozen Caspian terns and three Forster’s, as we saw a flock of very careful Amish birders had arrived before us and were scrutinizing them with great care. Our attentions were on shorebirds, and we found black-bellied and semipalmated plovers, yellowlegs, turnstones, and semipalmated, least, Baird’s, and pectoral sandpipers, as well as a single short-billed dowitcher. No big deal, except perhaps for the Baird’s, which local shorebird guru Craig Holt identified by call as it flew in. We did vicariously experience the following species, which HAD been seen there in the preceding weeks, through extensive chatting with local birders: avocet, whimbrel, buff-breasted sandpiper, American golden-plover, willet, and red knot.
Joe’s car died—or maybe I should say it experienced a lengthy and unexpected state of suspended animation—and caused some delays, during which we hoped for a squall or a change in the wind or something that would bring in new shorebirds or blow a jaeger close to shore, but only rumors of a western sandpiper turned up. The valetudinary vehicle having been delivered to a mechanic, we reluctantly left Joe behind with his steed and forged on to Walnut Beach, another legendary North Coast shorebird spot, scene of the famous red-necked stint of 1962 and good reports earlier this month as well. By the time we got there, the winds had calmed, and the sun was set on “Bake”; primates had invaded the beach, and in a mile’s walk we saw two greater yellowlegs and two least sandpipers, and discussed in extenso the birding venues of North Dakota and Montana as we ambled along. Headlands Beach SP was in the plan, but a team meeting decided to pass on its possibilities and head back, building in a stop to see if anything had showed up at Hoover Reservoir.
Indeed, a few things had showed up. We saw 13 species of shorebirds there, along with a nice flock of 16 black terns, which had completed most of their prebasic molt. We followed shorebirds we saw in flight south from Galena and found a foraging area that had a shorebirds, not great numbers, but—as we passed an hour and a half watching them—pretty good variety. We added solitary sandpiper, spotted sandpiper, red knot, stilt sandpiper, and buff-breasted sandpiper to our list for the day, and had leisurely looks at all. Four life birds were racked up by participants here, and our last-ditch stop had paid off, ending the day on an upturn after an inauspicious start. We’d perhaps learned a thing or two to guide us on the next trip, which lies only two weeks ahead. All in all we saw seventeen species among shorebirds, the targets of our day’s birding, and frankly I’d defy any other birding group in the state to come up with a better shorebird total for the day. After having so concentrated our efforts, our list of 62 species is not so puny.
