It's been a hectic couple of weeks (my Dad died last week), so I took
the day yesterday to get out and take a break. Cold as it was, there
was no wind, the lake was calm, and it looked like the perfect winter
day to drive around the lake.
I got to the East Shore park around 7:30, and flocks of several
hundred gulls were still loafing on the ice edge. My best bird was an
adult lesser Black-backed Gull. Lots of Common Mergansers and Goldeneye.
The marina at Myers was frozen, but just off the entrance was the
usual small flock of ducks: Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks, one Northern
Pintail, and Mallards. Just north of the spit (Town park) was a close-
in pair of White-winged Scoters.
In the bay north of Long Point SP were a couple of Gadwall,
Buffleheads, and 9 Tundra Swans. I was able to whistle out a single
Yellow-rumped Warbler from the brush along the road, and a Carolina
Wren sang out several times.
Aurora Bay (from the boathouse) held a small group of grebes: 2 Horned
and one Eared.
The ice edge (close to shore, anyway) was somewhere south of Farley's,
so I continued all the way to Mud Lock. There, in among the 100 or so
Tundra Swans were 3 Trumpeter Swans. There was a Bald Eagle sitting on
the southern-most nest, and another Carolina Wren sang from the bushes.
From there I drove north through Port Byron and took a short walk on
Howland Island. Just over the iron bridge I encountered a flock of
some 40 American Robins, 2 Northern Flickers, a Red-bellied
Woodpecker, and a Pileated Woodpecker.
The marsh on Van Dyne Spoor Rd was frozen, as was Knox-Marsellus and
the refuge. I continued down the west side of the lake, finding the
ice edge on Parker Rd. Between there and Bonnie Banks Rd I counted
over 1,000 Common Mergansers, hundreds of Goldeneye and Tundra Swans
as well as a small flock of Redheads and Ring-necked Ducks.
My first (and last) Common Loon was at Sheldrake.
Bob McGuire
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