I birded Lake Erie Bluffs in Lake County this morning for about three hours. It started out great with a short-eared owl flying just north of the parking lot at Lane Road. The bird continued west over the trees along the lake. It appeared to be migrating. There were the usual large numbers of gulls heading west in the morning. Many are heading to the dump and the Fairport Harbor area. It was not until after 7:45 that I saw my first loon go by. I ended up counting 109 birds, with most heading west high in the sky. Only two flocks exceeded 10 birds with most flocks at 3-5 birds. Of note was a group of three birds flying low. Two were common loons and the third was much smaller. It did not have the characteristic red-throated loon wing beat. It went as unidentified. There were very few ducks going by and the only ones of note were two adult white-winged scoters. There were a lot of songbirds on the trails. Most were robins and starlings feeding on the crabapples. A palm warbler was seen along the trail just west of the shelter. Three purple finches, two females and a male were in the southwest corner of the Lane Road trail. A complete list will be posted on the Ohio bird list-serve.


Lake Erie Bluffs Metropark--Lane Rd., Lake, Ohio, US
Nov 13, 2018 7:00 AM - 10:10 AM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Cloudy with light drizzle, winds northwest 10-20 mph, 35-38 degrees. The majority of the birds were flying west. First two hours were spent doing a lake watch and the last hour was spent on the Lane Road trails.
42 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  58
Tundra Swan  62
Gadwall  1
Mallard  13
American Black Duck  1
Northern Pintail  1
White-winged Scoter  2     2 adult birds flying west with two red-breasted mergansers
Red-breasted Merganser  26
Mourning Dove  1
Bonaparte's Gull  17
Ring-billed Gull  520
Herring Gull  340
Great Black-backed Gull  3
Common Loon  109     Almost all were flying high heading west. There were two groups that exceeded 10 birds. Most were in groups of 3-5.
loon sp.  1     I small dark loon was observed flying with two common loons. It was not a red-throated loon.
Bald Eagle  9     6 immatures and 3 adults
Red-tailed Hawk  2
Short-eared Owl  1     Flew by early over the Lane Road parking lot. It  headed west over the trees
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  6
Blue Jay  19
American Crow  1
Black-capped Chickadee  4
Carolina Wren  1
Golden-crowned Kinglet  2
Eastern Bluebird  2
American Robin  82
Gray Catbird  1
European Starling  234
House Finch  2
Purple Finch  3     Two females and a male in the southwest corner of the lane road trail.
American Goldfinch  5
Snow Bunting  6
American Tree Sparrow  37
Dark-eyed Junco  3
White-crowned Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  23
Song Sparrow  1
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Brown-headed Cowbird  21
Rusty Blackbird  6
Palm Warbler  1     An immature palm warbler was along the trail just west of the shelter. The bird was feeding on the trail. It wagged its tail constantly. Bird was small with a faded rusty cap. Faint yellowish wash on the undertail. The back was dull brown. There was very faint chest streaking.
Northern Cardinal  18


John Pogacnik

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