We didn't get out Sat. and this morning at Headlands Beach SP the wind made birding a little more difficult. There weren't many migrants, Bay-breasted and Blackpoll Warblers and a Wilson's. Lots of American Redstarts; on the beach drab, young birds but in the woods on the Zimmerman Trail breeding black and orange males. On the beach we also had at least 2 Alder Flycatchers calling and singing. We found no sign of the Orchard Orioles or White-eyed Vireos, but there was a Least Flycatcher near the Coast Guard station, so one may be summering here again. Cedar Waxwings are still everywhere.

The trees in downtown Cleveland plazas were alive with singing migrants this morning making going to work quite stressful. One area had several Blackpoll Warblers, but the Federal Building had a different variety. We are hoping that this is a push of all those birds still being reported from the gulf states and that some will still be here tomorrow, thunderstorms permitting!

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The Magee Marsh Bird Trail had few birders, several from out-of-state, but there are still migrants arriving well worth the visit. The foliage is dense, but birds still are singing and can be located plus thrushes and some warblers are low where they are easier to find. Red-eyed Vireos were abundant and unusually visible. We had 10 species of warbler with male Mourning and Connecticut Warblers both along the water between #13 and the small bridge. There were also Swainson's Thrush and a Gray-cheeked Thrush in that area. An Alder Flycatcher was near the trail entrance, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was reported nearby and at least 5 Willow Flycatchers were calling along the beginning of the entrance road. There were several Yellow-billed Cuckoos and on the beach about 30 Ruddy Turnstones. Cedar Waxwing movement was noticed everywhere.

Along the Ottawa NWR entrance we saw 3 adult and 11 colorful young Pied-billed Grebes. At Mallard Club Marsh we missed the Yellow-headed Blackbird reported by others and shorebirds were few but there were a few Gadwall, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal. A brief stop at the Maumee Bay SP nature center revealed a Prothonotary Warbler singing just outside and another a little further down the boardwalk. It was very startling to hear and see a peacock in the grass.

The fields at Rtes 2 & 19 east of Magee are nearly dry now and we only saw 5 Black-bellied Plover (some now in striking plumage) and Killdeer.

Elsewhere, we again saw a Bald Eagle fly over Rte 2 west of Huron and last weekend Tom Leiden again located a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker nest in Ashtabula Co.

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With weather still sunny but cool, we found many of the expected breeding birds in Lake View Cemetery today though Eastern Kingbird and Warbling Vireo were absent or silent. Migrant warblers were Bay-breasted, Blackpoll and Northern Waterthrush. Red-headed Woodpeckers continued in the area where several wintered and we saw birds go into holes and remain in two different spots. We hope these are both nest locations and will continue to watch.

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After so much summer-like weather, today's northeast wind seemed icy, but Lorain still hosted 7 species of shorebirds. There were good numbers of all the common swallows, possibly taking advantage of a hatch of midges. 2 Bonaparte's Gulls and 10 Caspian Terns lingered. Quite surprising was an alternate plumage Horned Grebe along the pier that seemed to have a disabled leg. Our pocket migrant trap was filled with midges but most of the birds were fledgling starlings. In addition to hearing 2 Marsh Wrens, we heard a Virginia Rail and saw 2 American Coots.

We found no warblers and are hoping those assuring us that many migrants are still showing up in southern states indicating more to come our way are right. It seems likely that some will, but hot weather resulting from big flows out of the south usually have some of the migration simply passing over us. We need to keep up the watch to see how much is left.

Today's Shorebirds:
Black-bellied Plover   3      Ruddy Turnstone        1
Semipalmated Plover    4      Least Sandpiper        1
Killdeer              10      Dunlin                46
Spotted Sandpiper      1

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With the vegetation and weather imitating summer, we found ourselves doing likewise and actually got out early in the morning, arriving at Headlands Beach State Park at 7:07 to the amazement of the regular birders there. And a good thing, too, as we were with them when Emil Bacik spotted the Summer Tanager, a mottled male, singing from the cottonwoods. Its head was mostly red, the tail red and most of the rest of the bird yellow-green tones; the bill big and pale. Amazingly it was a new bird for all of us at this location. Disconcerting with this singing male were the territorial pairs of White-eyed Vireo and Orchard Oriole, the oriole male an immature. Had we moved south?

The Summer Tanager moved off along the Coast Guard road and otherwise the birding at Headlands was slow. We have not seen a Cape May Warbler and wonder if they are already gone, but Mourning and Canada have also been elusive and probably are yet to come in any numbers. One new migrant today was a Philadelphia Vireo. Finally, even though we were late getting to the water's edge, we still saw one Sanderling with a drab Least Sandpiper. Most of the shorebirds are driven off the beach by human usage when the weather is as nice as today.

This afternoon Craig Holt reported Hudsonian Godwit and White-rumped Sandpiper from Lorain. We were unable to get out to enjoy this good find.

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Tonight we heard the first Common Nighthawk of the year in our Cleveland Heights neighborhood.

We wound up with a relaxed day and spent 2+ hours at the Lorain impoundment. In and around that small space we had 65 species and again found the trees and small pool at the end of the pier a tiny migrant trap. The Marsh Wrens are back and there were the usual four gulls, American Coots, small numbers of Caspian, Forster's and Common Terns. Among the song birds, highlights other than warblers included Willow and Least Flycatchers, White-eyed Vireo and Bobolink. The water was fairly high which limits shorebird habitat, but will keep down the vegetation for a while. The shorebirds and warblers, with estimated numbers, were:

Semipalmated Plover    12       Northern Parula              1
Killdeer               15       Yellow Warbler               4
Greater Yellowlegs      2       Magnolia Warbler             2
Lesser Yellowlegs       6       Black-throated Blue Warbler  2
Solitary Sandpiper      1       Yellow-rumped Warbler        4
Spotted Sandpiper      10       Palm Warbler                 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper  2       Blackpoll Warbler            1
Least Sandpiper        25       Black-and-white Warbler      4
Dunlin                 30       American Redstart           10
Short-billed Dowitcher  1       Common Yellowthroat         12
                                Wilson's Warbler             2

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The siren call of Lake Erie's western basin is strong in May and we set out to the Magee Marsh Bird Trail and various marshes. As often is the case, we were told we should have been there yesterday. Apparently there was good movement, lots of species and even a hawk flight. Today there were lots of birds, but not as numerous and some species seemed absent from the 13th. We had just over 100 species for the day and missed quite a few reported by others, but went looking for shorebirds and marsh birds instead of working the bird trail longer. We saw no rare birds there.

Just before Medusa Marsh, along Rte 2 in Erie Co. we saw a Cattle Egret fly by, but that marsh has lots of water and not a lot of species diversity though we enjoyed hearing Marsh Wrens.

Flooded fields in Ottawa Co. have lots of shorebirds. The ones at Rtes 2 & 19 had around 1,000 Dunlin, 4 Black-bellied Plovers and 20 Bonaparte's Gulls. 100 Dunlin, 3 Semipalmated Plovers and a Lesser Yellowlegs were along Duff Washa Road a little west of Rte 19.

From the Metzger Marsh dike in Lucas Co. we saw some lingering ducks and 9 Ruddy Turnstones, 10 Dunlin and 26 Short-billed Dowitchers. At the Mallard Club Marsh (see directions at statewide link above) we saw one of the reported Glossy Ibis along with Dunlin, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and 2 Pectoral Sandpipers.

On the way back to Cleveland we stopped at the Rte 2 rest area along the ravine of the Vermilion River and found several probable nesting species new for the day such as Acadian Flycatcher, Cerulean Warbler (2 heard singing across the ravine) and Hooded Warbler. The advanced state of the vegetation and warm afternoon made it seem more summer than spring, but we are hoping for more good migration in the next few days.

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Late last week we returned from over two weeks birding and visiting family in west Texas and New Mexico (watch for the trip report) and have been buried ever since. Hopefully the current change in the weather will bring a flood of migrants starting tomorrow!

This afternoon we found a few birds at lower Shaker Lake, basically the same birds Dick had there yesterday morning. Migrants included Solitary Sandpiper, Least Flycatcher, Tennessee, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Palm and Bay-breasted Warblers, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and probable resident Baltimore Orioles. There is also a singing Carolina Wren.

Saturday, May 9, we participated in the International Migratory Bird Day festivities at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. This included birds walks, bird banding and displays where we showed off some of the museum's mounts of shorebirds. It was slow on migrants, but did show folks a little of the annual movement along Lake Erie of silent Blue Jays plus several warblers, Nashville most numerous, plus many Gray Catbird, Wood Thrush, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Baltimore Oriole.

The Ohio birds listserv and Vic Fazio's statewide page (link above) have reports of many more birds moving through the state, as always with good things being seen on the Magee Marsh Bird Trail.

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URL: http://pw1.netcom.com/~djhoff/may1998.html
Send mail to: Dick & Jean Hoffman (djhoff@ix.netcom.com)

Archived: Jun 10, 1998