How the groups doing the Lake Erie shoreline do the magic they do is always a mystery. Lake Erie was wide open and as a result waterfowl and gulls were not concentrated at all. A few species of dabblers Wood Duck, Mallard, American Black Duck and American Wigeon were found primarily at inland sites. Big water ducks and divers were nearly non existent … ONE Redhead, ONE Hooded Merganser, FOUR Greater Scaup and even the Red-breasted Merganser numbers were some of the lowest noted, usually their numbers are in the double digit thousands. No special divers or other unusual waterfowl.

Common Loon and Horned Grebe were nice finds (thank goodness) on Lake Erie. Double-crested Cormorant is a species not always found, but they were here this CBC.  Gull numbers were p-a-t-h-e-t-i-c with only a couple thousand Ring-billed Gulls, way, way lower than the double-digit thousands of past Christmas Counts. ONE Great Black-backed Gull? That is absurd. No unusual species of gull were noted.

Diurnal raptors did better on our list with all 3 falcons species one expects to find in the area at this time of year. Cleveland Hopkins airport was a mini bonanza of raptors with many Red-tailed Hawks, several American Kestrels a single Rough-legged Hawk (nice) AND a single Snowy Owl (whoo-hoo).  Other owls were in short supply with Screech Owl being the only other owl. Where were you Great Horned and Barred Owls?? Despite some owling time none of the larger owls were found.

Woodpeckers made appearances throughout the area and a single Red-headed Woodpecker is nice. With the milder weather one would think that Northern Flicker would be easier to find but numbers were low.

Most of the remainder of the perching and or songbird numbers were lower than most years. Even feeder birds were not as abundant possibly not stressed due to the milder weather. Red-breasted Nuthatch were tallied and it was not a huge year for them so that was a nice find as were the single Winter Wren, a couple of Golden-crowned Kinglets and two Ruby-crowned Kinglets!

A lack of persistent fruits on trees and shrubs seemed to decrease the number of fruit eaters that are normally found, such as Eastern Bluebird, American Robin and Cedar Waxwing.  Not a single warbler of any species was noted.  One of the few species whose numbers were up were European Starlings (ugh).

Sparrows didn’t do too badly but we did miss any Eastern Towhee that might have been around. A single Field Sparrow was a good addition as were the two Swamp Sparrows which we sometimes do not get, and the five White-crowned Sparrows. Some of the wetlands in our count circle have been opened up with trails making it a bit easier to find blackbirds. Red-winged Blackbirds did not disappoint us but we did miss Common Grackle and Brown-headed Cowbird. Again with the relatively mild winter thus far one would have thought more blackbird sightings would have been reported but this was not the case. Lastly, two Pine Siskins were a nice addition to the list and a couple of Purple Finch were noted during count week. 

A WELL DESERVED thank you to all who participated in the 2011 Christmas Bird Count.  Whether you went a field or stayed in the comfort of your home and watched your feeders.  All tallies are appreciated and have been added.  Here are the 62 participants:

Jay Abercrombie, Nidia Arguedas, Linda Arida, Ken and Lois Ballas, Mary Bartos,  Dennis and Kit Birch, Sarah Boumphrey, Kathleen Bradley, Nancy Brewer, Erik Bruder, Diane Busch, June Cangey, Lee Cavano, Liz Clingman, Bill Deininger, Dave Dvorak, Maria and Rick Finchum, Bob Finkelstein, Jerry Friedman, Sandy Gleason, Joanne and Terry Gorges, Sharon Hanse, Jim Heflich, Terry Hogan, Nancy Howell, Mary Lou Hura, Karen and Rich Kassouf, Claire Kluskens, Claire Kovacs, JoAnn Kubicki,  Ray Kutnar, Paula Lozano, Mary Jo Marshall, Terri Martincic, Liz McQuaid, Aaron Milenski, Marianne Nolan, Penny O’Connor, Michael Pacek, Lukas Padegimas, Earl and Martha Peck, Chris Pierce, Robert Reynard, Mary Anne and Tom Romito, Suzanne Sawyer, Andrea and Robert Segedi, Paul Sherwood, Chuck Slusarczyk, Jr., Jessie St. Christopher, Page Stephens, Helen Taft, Kathleen Tiburzi, Courtney Treadwell and Bev Walborn.