Our visit to The Sandspit today was brutal; the wind and the rain never stopped; even so, the birding was very productive. We arrived at 7:45AM and departed at 1:45PM. The exciting birds of the day were a winter adult Franklin's Gull we found about 9:45AM. It was well documented and photographed. Unfortunately, at about 10:30AM it was flushed along with the other gulls and not refound. After the fact, one of the photographers mentioned he had seen the bird about an hour earlier than we did. The other bird of the day was an adult Black-headed Gull in winter plumage, found by local birder Bob Krajeski. Jerry Talkington, comparing his photos of The Black-headed Gull seen two weeks ago, expressed belief that this may be the same bird. Fortunately, the Black-headed Gull returned each time it was flushed, with many birders getting to see it. It was a lifer for some of the visitors. It was still present when we departed. An interesting observation was the fact that both celebrity gulls were relatively easy to find when on the beach; they always seemed to be the closest gull to the observers, not mixed in with the other gulls. This was great for the photographers! If the gulls had not been found; it would still have been a good birding day. At The Sandspit area, 34 bird species were recorded, even with no small landbirds being seen. Shorebirds were constantly coming and going, with the following 10 species being seen: Black-bellied Plover~1, American Golden-Plover~1, Semipalmated Plover~8+, American Avocet~2, Sanderling~18+, Semipalmated Sandpiper~6+, Least Sandpiper~10+, White-rumped Sandpiper~1, Baird's Sandpiper~1, and Dunlin~2. A memorable moment was seeing the Baird's Sandpiper, the American Golden-Plover, and the Black-headed Gull all standing together! There were no negative outside influences of the usual nature today. The only disturbances to the birds were caused by the tormenting juvenile Bald Eagles, the terrorizing Peregrine Falcon, and unbelievably with the 45 degree temperature, a guy windsurfing when we finally left. On a sad note; at about 10AM, a Double-crested Cormorant flew in, landed near us on the sand, appearing to be normal. Several minutes later it began moving its head and neck in a gyrating motion, then becoming disoriented, stumbling around and then collapsing, and shortly after, dying. Hopefully the death of the cormorant was not caused by Newcastle disease, a destuctive virus disease of birds that involves the nervous system. We have witnessed this while rescuing birds in Florida. Bob and Denise Lane / Mahoning County                                          
______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]