Hi everyone,

Because of some doubts about being able to get out this weekend—including getting our second COVID-19 vaccination—we went down to the Cuyahoga River and the lakefront yesterday afternoon, Feb 24. We thought we would take advantage of the spring-like weather, but that was probably a mistake.

Spring-like it was: in the morning sunshine the cardinals were singing up a storm in the neighborhood.

In the early afternoon we went down to the river and birded between the Turning Basin, along Scranton Flats and a little upriver from the twin Innerbelt bridges, hoping for the usual February sightings of thousands of gulls and hundreds of ducks, and even some birds on the shores. We think the warm weather opened too much water on the lake, and most birds went there.

In the Turning Basin, we had only 10 Scaup (I think Lesser, but not 100% confident), 2 Buffleheads and 1 Coot. I think we might have taken a hint from seeing a big Painted Turtle out on a log…and talking about non-avian animals, we noticed that near the shore, the few trees among the stubble and reeds had apparently all been cut down by beavers….though we have no idea where the lodge might be.

So here’s what we saw altogether:

Canada Goose         18

Wood Duck             2

Mallard                   24

Redhead                  11

Greater/Lesser Scaup 15

Bufflehead              4

Ruddy Duck             8

American Coot        1

Ring-billed Gull       10

Double-crested Cormorant   1

House Sparrow       6

We decided to take a look at the lake shore. Between East 9^th street and East 55^th Street, everything was pretty frozen over still—though we could see open water beyond the break wall. But north and east of the 55^th St marina there was open water, with bits of ice floating on it. The wind was whipping in, and it felt colder than the low 50s indicated by the thermometer. All we had there was:

Canada Goose            12

Mallard      6

Ring-billed Gull          200

Herring Gull   12

Bald Eagle  1

The eagle was an adult, all fluffed up and sitting on an ice floe.

Best wishes to all—stay safe,

Steve Cagan

Cuyahoga County