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The November Kelleys Island census was today (20 Nov); hopefully Tom will post the full results once he is off the island. As I write this, he should be setting up his owl nets for another go of it. Last night one saw-whet was caught on the first run only to have the heavy mist turn into a light but steady rain bringing the operation to a halt. I erroneously stated he had 8 captures last weekend ... it was actually 7 with one of those escaping from the net so last night's bird was the 8th captured saw-whet for Kelleys Island in the past week.
In recent days, a Merlin has been in residence in the interior of the island (not on the census route) and Delores Cole has obtained some nice digiscoped images of the bird.
Also this week, locals on South Bass I. have reported the presence of a Snowy Owl (fide Lisa Brohl).
As to the census itself, we managed to find 61 species (for those not familiar with the monthly count sponsored by Kelleys Island Audubon since November 1997, it is a 5 hour driving transect around the perimeter of the island and may only cover 20% of the terrestrial bird habitat). Today the 73 Common Loons was a good tally, but the 580 or so Bufflehead was quite low. Gulls were also disappointing. Morning fog gave way to clearing skies toward the end of the census, and the resulting sunshine seemed to bring the songbirds alive with Carolina Wrens in song, plus a decent movement of flickers and robins detected. All morning we had noticed pipits, larks, longspurs, and buntings making landfall from Pelee Island. While these open country species occasionally associate with each other in pastoral settings, it is uncommon to have more than 2 species in any given lakeshore movement, and then typically one species is clearly dominant. Today we tallied roughly 30 longspurs, 25 buntings, 25 pipits, and 10 larks; a truly novel experience for me on Lake Erie (consider that pipits generally have gone through in numbers before November while buntings are normally thinly distributed before December).
There were the usual Hermit Thrushes, Winter Wrens, and kinglets. Indeed, the 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets made up one-fourth of the kinglet total. We examined the 50+ Yellow-rumped Warblers for oddities but none presented themselves. Two Bald Eagles, including a vocal adult, are always satisfying. And the very last species which would have produced a really big goose egg on the checklist were we not to have recorded it for November, was Canada Goose.
Late in the day I made my way to the mainland. The irony of the newly designated Meadowbrook Preserve is that local property owners have been thorough in identifying the limits of private property ... basically everything nearby and so I no longer have the option of feigning ignorance when pulling off so as to scope the far end of the lake for shorebirds. VERY briefly from the road, I could make out the forms of 20+ shorebirds of two size classes. Hopefully, the Danbury Twp. trustees will see fit to offer a pull off somewhere nearby.
I visited East Harbor State Park satisfying my curiosity that the place was in fact quite birdless (even the Mute Swans have yet to really concentrate here). A Dunlin was on the beach at East Harbor where the species happens to be fairly scarce, but the Port Clinton beach made up for it, if not in diversity, certainly in numbers. This site, which clearly deserves its IBA status, continues to host substantial numbers of waterfowl. My breakdown this afternoon included:
Canada Goose - 2900+
Mallard - 3100+
American Black Duck - 250+
Lesser Scaup - 125
Red-breasted Merganser - 115
Great Black-backed Gull - 13
Thayer's Gull - 1 1st winter
(this is my first record of the species here and only my 2nd for Ottawa Co.)
the bird was resting on the nearest sandbar to the jetty at the west end
of the beach.)
generic gulls - 1100+
no terns
Cutting across the hood of the car while in the old Jet Express parking lot, an adult female Cooper's Hawk with an easily identifiable Norway Rat in talon, perched on a low branch to be admired in the setting sun before finding a less public dining spot.
Losing light, I opted to revisit Medusa Marsh. Here the afternoon before, I had failed to locate the Long-tailed Duck, but did have two Snow Geese (one blue, one white, both adults), a species surprisingly infrequent on this property. There was also one each of both yellowlegs species as well as 24 Dunlin. This evening, a quick scan failed to turn up much included the geese, though one Greater Yellowlegs remained. About 50 Ruddy Ducks was a noticeable change from the day before. But soon my attention was focused on the blackbirds/starlings coming to roost. In a word there were LOTS. Exactly what I mean by lots I hope to elaborate upon in a day or two after I have had a chance to review the digital stills I shot in a timed sequence over the 24 minute movement. I will only say that my preliminary estimate exceeds any number of songbirds I have previously reported ... ever.
cheers
Vic Fazio
Shaker Hts, OH