Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society

Shorebird field trip Saturday, August 27, 2011

Leader: Craig Caldwell

Lorain impoundment was a productive site for a shorebird trip today.  Western and Baird’s Sandpipers joined some of the more common shorebirds in a pond next to the parking lot.  Our group joined a large number of Northeast Ohio birders enjoying the beautiful long-distance migrants on a perfect summer day.  Part of our group braved a plank “bridge” to visit the other side of the impoundment in search of a Phalarope.  No luck! But with great shorebirds and lots of birding companions, the day was a huge success.

Two Cooper's hawks, a juvenile and an adult, made separate strafing runs the lenghth of the water and later a subadult bald eagle drifted past.

Earlier-arriving birders reported a Wilson's phalarope and a stilt sandpiper in the north pool but they were gone or hiding when we walked around to the site.

42 species, including 11 shorebirds -  20+ birders

Canada Goose 4

Wood Duck 1

Mallard 50

Blue-winged Teal 4

Northern Shoveler 3

Green-winged Teal 9

Hooded Merganser 3

Ruddy Duck 2

Double-crested Cormorant 44

Great Blue Heron 2

Green Heron 1

Black-crowned Night Heron 1 immature

Turkey Vulture 5

Bald Eagle 1 immature

Cooper’s Hawk 2

Common Gallinule  1 a.k.a. Common Moorhen

American Coot 3

Semipalmated Plover 1

Killdeer 2

Greater Yellowlegs 1

Lesser Yellowlegs 3

Spotted Sandpiper 1

Semipalmated Sandpiper 36

Least Sandpiper 6

Baird’s Sandpiper 1

Western Sandpiper 2

Dunlin 1

Short-billed Dowitcher 2

Ring-billed Gull 8

Herring Gull 1

Caspian Tern 2

Common Tern 1

Mourning Dove 3

Chimney Swift 6

Belted Kingfisher 1

Eastern Phoebe 1

American Crow 2

Barn Swallow 30

Cedar Waxwing 1

Red-winged Blackbird 5

American Goldfinch 5

House Sparrow 50