I made the trip up to L. Erie yesterday. With the northerly winds, I had fairly high hopes but it turned out to be rather dull. At Conneaut harbor from 7:15 to 9:15 AM: gadwalls, Am. black ducks, greater scaup, bufflehead, 400 red-breasted mergansers (flybys), common mergansers, ruddy duck, common loons, horned grebe, double-crested cormorant, great blue heron, 3 dunlins, Bonaparte's gulls, only 2 great black-backed gulls, and Am. robin. There were flocks of ducks flying out over the lake, but way too far out to ID. Next I went to Lakeshore Park in Ashtabula, which had bufflehead, hooded merganser, 150 red-breasted mergansers (mostly flybys), ruddy ducks, 2 double-crested cormorants, and Bonaparte's gulls. I scoped the breakwalls at both Conneaut and Ashtabula, but couldn't find anything of interest. I headed south to Mosquito L./WA next and spent several hours there. A number of waterfowl hunters were around the lake and in some fields,
but it's a big place with plenty of room for hunters, birds, birders, and other visitors to co-exist. Highlights at Mosquito: 50 tundra swans (flyover flock), gadwalls, 22 Am. black ducks, n. pintails, 32 n. shovelers, 30 green-winged teal, bufflehead, 85 hooded mergansers, 60 ruddy ducks, 8 common loons, 2 bald eagles, 300 Am. coots, 250 Bonaparte's gulls, many ring-billed gulls, 15 herring gulls, red-headed woodpecker, 5 red-bellied woodpeckers, pileated woodpecker, 2 Carolina wrens, e. bluebirds, 20 Am. tree sparrows, 5 white-throated sparrows, and dark-eyed juncos. Around my yard in Poland Twp., Mahoning Co. a sharp-shinned hawk is now patrolling the feeders. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Craig Holt
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