The Breeding Birds of Lake View Cemetery

© Copyright 1996, 1997 Jean M. Hoffman
Available in booklet form at the Garfield Monument in Lake View Cemetery.

Introduction

Lake View Cemetery is a large, rolling, green area at the junction of the cities of Cleveland, Cleveland Heights and East Cleveland in northeastern Ohio. It rises on the Portage Escarpment to provide a panoramic view of the lake plain and Lake Erie. Heavily shaded, it is maintained much like an arboretum with labeled trees and a noted spring floral display. Established in 1869, it covers 285 acres of which 70 are still relatively undeveloped, mostly wooded areas with some second growth. It is bisected by the ravine created by Dugway Brook across which a major dam was built for flood control in the 1970's. The brook is further dammed to create two ponds in the lower section of the cemetery. In its upper section, the brook cascades down a "buttermilk" falls adjacent to the site of a former quarry of the local Euclid bluestone. Lake View contains several species of "Moses Cleaveland Trees", trees that were present in 1796 when Moses Cleaveland first came to the area that would become the city of Cleveland, Ohio.

location map

While notable for its natural history, the cemetery is of interest for its architecture and the fame of many of those interred there. The James A. Garfield Monument, a memorial to the 20th president, rises above the trees and provides the best view of the lake. The Wade Memorial Chapel, with its exquisite interior, designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, sits between the ponds. A large obelisk marks the grave of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller, whose Cleveland estate is now Forest Hill Park, adjacent to the cemetery on the northeast. Lake View is also the burial site of Jared Potter Kirtland, early local naturalist for whom the endangered Kirtland's Warbler was named, and Arthur B. Williams, author of Birds of the Cleveland Region (1950), naturalist at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and pioneer in breeding bird census techniques.

I have birded in Lake View Cemetery since 1971 when I lived across the street. In addition to working on the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas in Lake View, I have participated in the Cleveland Christmas Bird Count by covering Lake View Cemetery since 1975, led spring bird walks there in 1985 and conducted hawk watches as part of area-wide projects sponsored by the Kirtland Bird Club. I have seen many changes in the cemetery and welcome today's open atmosphere and recognition of Lake View Cemetery as an outdoor museum for the living.

Coverage

From 1971 through 1982, data was accumulated during casual, but frequent, birding by myself and Richard A. Hoffman and through 1978 by James C. Hoffman. In 1983 the cemetery was intensively covered as the focal point of a priority block for the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas project with a goal to identify and confirm breeding species. For confirmation, an effort was made to locate, but not disturb, nests or to observe dependent young or adults carrying food or disposing of fecal sacs. During 1983 I spent about 75 hours in 43 visits on the project in February through August with about one third of the time in June. Less intense coverage for the project continued through 1986. Richard A. Hoffman assisted in this project. Casual observations resumed in 1987 with extra effort in 1995.

During these 25 years of birding I have recorded the beginning of nesting in the cemetery by three expanding species: Canada Goose, Red-bellied Woodpecker and House Finch. I have also noted the weather-related fluctuations in Carolina Wren.

Annotated List of Breeding Birds

The following list of 76 species includes all species for which we found evidence of breeding in Lake View Cemetery and all species seen during their breeding season that were not obviously late spring or early fall migrants. The 43 species for which breeding was confirmed are marked by an * and evidence cited. See Appendix A for a list of all species observed in Lake View.

order and names according to the AOU Checklist, 6th ed., 41st supplement
Least Bittern Great Blue Heron *Green Heron Turkey Vulture
*Canada Goose *Wood Duck American Wigeon American Black Duck
*Mallard Blue-winged Teal Green-winged Teal Hooded Merganser
Cooper's Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Broad-winged Hawk *Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel *Killdeer Spotted Sandpiper American Woodcock
Herring Gull Rock Pigeon *Mourning Dove Black-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo *Great Horned Owl Common Nighthawk Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher *Red-headed Woodpecker *Red-bellied Woodpecker
*Downy Woodpecker *Hairy Woodpecker *Northern Flicker *Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher *Eastern Phoebe *Great Crested Flycatcher *Eastern Kingbird
*Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo *Blue Jay *American Crow
*Northern Rough-winged Swallow *Barn Swallow *Black-capped Chickadee *Tufted Titmouse
*White-breasted Nuthatch *Carolina Wren *House Wren *Wood Thrush
*American Robin *Gray Catbird *Brown Thrasher *Cedar Waxwing
*European Starling Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Pine Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler Ovenbird Common Yellowthroat *Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak Indigo Bunting Eastern Towhee *Chipping Sparrow
*Song Sparrow *Red-winged Blackbird *Common Grackle *Brown-headed Cowbird
*Baltimore Oriole *House Finch *American Goldfinch *House Sparrow

Summary

This census assessed the breeding potential of a varied ecosystem isolated within a dense residential and light industrial area. The habitats represented are all small areas and do not harbor species requiring large, continuous tracts. Every habitat, both natural and man-made, is utilized. Regular breeding birds include two large raptors and several species not to be found in the surrounding area other than Forest Hill Park which provides a continuation of the cemetery habitats. Thus such protected preserves in urban areas do provide a valuable resource even though they cannot replace large tracts of natural habitats.

Herr reported in 1915 that only one third of the acreage was developed compared to more than three quarters today, but his brief mention of birds only includes one species, Scarlet Tanager, which is absent today. In 1974, Mankovich was able to demonstrate that species diversity was greatest around the ponds, and cited the variety of habitats and presence of water as likely causes. Thus it is unfortunate that the draining of the ponds, begun in 1989, left each pond dry for several years, the upper pond still being dry in 1995. The subsequent dredging and the elimination of aquatic vegetation on the lower pond and the absence of the upper pond had an adverse effect on water birds. Similar dredging of the upper pond in 1996 will maintain the lack of aquatic vegetation for many years. Green Herons no longer nest in the cemetery and other breeding birds such as Wood Duck, Mallard and Red-winged Blackbird are reduced in numbers during the breeding season. In general, the adverse impact of storm damage and the advance of cemetery usage of previously undeveloped areas is reducing the breeding habitat available for birds.

Selected References

  1. American Ornithologists' Union. 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th ed. and supplements.
  2. Dooner, V. D. and J. M. Bossu. 1990. Seasons of Life and Learning: Lake View Cemetery, An Educator's Handbook. The Lake View Cemetery Foundation.
  3. Herr, A. W. "Spends Summer in Cemetery, Finds Lake View Most Wonderful Park", The Sunday Leader, November 7, 1915.
  4. Mankovich, N. J. 1974. Some Aspects of Bird Distribution in Lake View Cemetery. manuscript (library of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.)
  5. Peterjohn, B. G., R. L. Hannikman, J. M. Hoffman and E. J. Tramer. 1987. Abundance and Distribution of the Birds of Ohio. Ohio Biological Survey, Biological Notes No. 19.
  6. Peterjohn, B. G. 1989. The Birds of Ohio. Indiana University Press.
  7. Rice, D. and B. Peterjohn. 1991. Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves.
  8. Rosche, L. 1988. A Field Book of the Birds of the Cleveland Region, 2nd ed., Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
  9. Williams, A. B. 1950. Birds of the Cleveland Region. Kirtland Society Bulletin No. 2. Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

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