| Castalia Pond -9:15 to 10:00
The make up of the duck concentration did not appear to be
that different from last week. I had only gotten through
counts of 1160 Canada Geese and 270 American Black Ducks
when workman on a house project on the pond's shore started
up a pile-driver which mimicked a gunshot very well. The
waterfowl drifted quickly to opposite ends of the pond where
they remained for the next half hr. With the steam rising, an accurate
count was not possible.
Medusa Marsh
- a sliver of open water held 26 Mute Swans
Bay View
- 99% frozen and nothing in the few leads; there was only a single
Herring Gull in the entire area.
Sandusky Harbor and bay front. Sandusky has been working to
restore the bay front with a series of parks that allow access to
much of this portion of the Sandusky Bay. I visited all these
parks today but the only birds of any kind to be seen were at
Turning Pt. Island as seen from the Shelby Boat Ramp. In the shelter
of the spoil island, 90% of the water was frozen. On the ice were
1500 Herring Gulls, 300 Ring-billed Gulls, and 22 Great Black-backed Gulls.
There were also 19 Double-crested Cormorants remaining, and 270
Common Mergansers moving SOUTH overhead.
Huron Harbor salvaged the gull effort. The river is frozen, as well as the
mudflat
area west of the pier. There was no ice of any kind on the east side of the
pier.
What few gulls there were rested on the ice either in the river or west of
the pier.
The river, just opposite the Con Agra symbol, hosted about 300 ring-billed
Gulls and 500 Herring Gulls. In amongst them, an adult Thayer's Gull and
an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull sat. West of the pier were mostly
Ring-billed
Gulls, perhaps 4-500 along with 150 Herring Gulls. Another adult Lesser Black-
backed Gull was conspicuous, as there were only 3 Great Black-backed Gulls
in the vicinity.
Common Mergansers are now the dominant merganser with 800 present on the
water just west of the Huron Pier. Appx. 1000 Mallard were visible in the
distance
off Sheldon Marsh. Another 750 sat on the ice in Huron on the river. The
Canada
Goose flock here numbered 620.
Stops at Oberlin Beach, Sherod Park and Vermilion Harbor were long enough
to see
an almost total absence of gulls and waterfowl. I rarely get to comment on
songbirds
at Oberlin Beach, but a tight flock of birds included 19 White-throated
Sparrows,
a Downy Woodpecker, a White-breasted Nuthatch, and a Brown Creeper.
Briefly at the Hotwaters at Lorain I noted virtually NO gulls of any
kind (less than 30 Ring-billed Gull and 3 Herring Gulls) ... and no waterfowl.
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