Today was the first day since January that there was open water up to the shoreline. Yesterday there was about a half mile of ice. It blew out last night and was still visible in the distance. There were a lot fewer mergansers today than last weekend. Gull numbers were about the same. Best birds were 2 sandhill cranes flying just offshore to the east. An adult lesser black-backed gull was also good. Lakeshore Waterbird Survey North Perry, Lake County Sunday March 28, 700-1000 Weather- cloudy Winds- S 20-30, Temp- 42-44 F Barometer- 29.87-29.86, Humidity-89-88, Dew point- 29-31 Waves- 3-4 feet, Flight direction- east Ice cover- 5% Canada goose 9 Bufflehead 2 Common goldeneye 13 Red-breasted merganser 376 Common loon 1 Horned grebe 3 Double-crested cormorant 2 Bald eagle- 1 adult SANDHILL CRANE 2 Ring-billed gull 61 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 1 adult Herring gull 387 Great black-backed gull 16 John Pogacnik 4765 Lockwood Road Perry, OH 44081 (440) 259-2751 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]