From Donna Kuhn
Temperatures in the 60s were a welcome relief from the heat and humidity of the past week. Cleveland’s Historic Erie Cemetery was our first
destination. The warblers were not here, except for a Palm and Magnolia. We did find a Red-breasted Nuthatch and a Junco: both are signs that winter is coming!
We decided to search for the Fish Crows in Valley View. There were lots of crows; fortunately two juvenile Red-tailed Hawks, a Red-Shouldered Hawk and a Cooper’s Hawk kept stirring up the crows until everyone heard, at least once, the higher nasal, “ehn uh” of the Fish Crow.
Since Wendy Park and CLNP were both reported to be windy and holding few migrants, we decided to try further inland at Chagrin River Metro Park. Red-breasted Nuthatches were calling in the parking lot. A couple Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and a small flock of Bay-breasted and Blackpoll Warblers were flitting around at the edges of the lot. During a short walk we added a few birds to the list.
Next stop: Headlands Beach. Following Avids tradition, of making a wrong turn on the trip, I headed west instead of east, despite GPS navigation. It was windy there as well, the only shorebirds were a flock of 18 Sanderlings and a single Spotted Sandpiper. There were thousands of gulls on the beach,
Herring and Ring-billed. The trees along the parking lots were loaded with warblers. The overcast conditions and back-lighting made identification a challenge. We identified over a dozen species, including Wilson’s, Black-throated Green, Magnolia, Tennessee, Black-and-white, Bay-breasted, Yellow-rumped and Blackpolls. This was our third location with Red-breasted Nuthatches; no doubt this will be a good year for the species in Ohio, as they have also been seen in Central Ohio.
Everyone seemed ready to call it a day, so we headed back to Worthington, finishing the day about 6PM.
We had 63 species for the day, including 15 warbler species:
Canada Goose
Mallard
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Killdeer
Sanderling
Spotted Sandpiper
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Cooper’s Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Swainson’s Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Black-and-white Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Cape May Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
House Sparrow