Counters for Lakewood CBC near Renaissance Retirement Community Property/Sunset Memorial Cemetery © Penny O'Conner

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Nothing to concentrate the birds seems to be the mantra for the 2014 Lakewood Circle (OH) Christmas Bird Count. Lake Erie and all inland lakes, ponds and rivers were free of ice so birds were scattered. Rain before the count date helped to swell rivers and streams and caused them to be a bit more turbid.  Waterfowl-wise, not much jumps out other than many numbers were lower than in past years. Of the dabbling ducks the one exception to low numbers was the Northern Pintail with 76 birds counted. Diving and big water ducks, were down in numbers except Common Goldeneye. Two of the three scoter species were tallied – Black and Surf - while three mergansers species were in pathetically low tallies; 377 Red-breasted Mergansers, 16 Common Mergansers and 3 Hooded Mergs.  Are the lower numbers due to the lake being open, hence the birds spread out … we hope so. Are the birds farther out in the lake … perhaps. Have the birds just not arrived from open water up north?  No Common Loon were noted, but Horned and Pied-billed Grebe as well as a flock of Double-crested Cormorants rounded out the list of water birds on Lake Erie.

Wild Turkey graced a couple of tallies this year. That’s nice since sometimes they are missed.

What happened to Great Blue Herons? One (1) bird was counted this year. 

Raptors made a nice showing. Nothing too unusual, but this year the Merlin was missed, so American Kestrel and Peregrine Falcon were the two falcons that graced our totals.

Ring-billed and Herring Gull numbers were extremely low, again due to the open waters of Lake Erie. Bonaparte’s Gulls, however, showed in large number. A single Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Little Gull were picked out of the gull flocks and made nice additions to the list. One additional species that was picked up along Lake Erie was a Pomarine Jaeger. Nice!

Here are a couple of nice finds … and surprises; two Sandhill Cranes were observed flying along the Lake Erie shoreline in Lakewood. The Sandhill Crane may be a species that we will see more often on our counts as their population rises in Ohio and surrounding states. Recall when Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon numbers began to rise and become more regularly sighted. A Virginia Rail was noted at the Lake Abrams wetland, a first for the Lakewood Count day. Two good finds for the count circle.

Owl species and diversity were both lower this year. Only Barred Owl were tallied (sorry no Great Horned or Eastern Screech). With last year’s bonanza of Snowy Owls this year still produced a Snowy Owl at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, but only a single bird.

As we get into the species of birds that grace our birdfeeders, backyards, wooded areas and parks, numbers of many species were down. Woodpeckers were well represented. American Crow numbers dipped a bit, but again, were the birds just spread so widely that they were not counted. A single Brown Creeper, two Winter Wren and a couple of Golden-crowned Kinglets made the list. A single Eastern Bluebird and Hermit Thrush were good finds, but where were the American Robins? Their numbers were low this year maybe because of the lack of fruits on shrubs and ornamental trees. Even the European Starling numbers were lower than in past years. Cedar Waxwing were noted for count week, but not on count day. Yay, a single Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) was found.

Sparrow species were typical of what is generally found in the count circle. American Tree Sparrow and Dark-eyed Juncos numbers were fairly high, Song and White-throated Sparrows were in good number, Swamp Sparrows should be more common, but the numbers are consistently low. A single Fox Sparrow was a good find for count day and a winter plumaged Chipping Sparrow was added during count week. The 60 Lapland Longspurs were a nice addition on count day.

Red - winged Blackbirds and Common Grackle seem to be coming fairly regular in the count circle in the winter. While the numbers are not high, locating these species was good. American Goldfinch were fairly abundant and a feeder held two Common Redpoll. Lastly, the species that had a large number this year was the House Sparrow. 

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Thanks go out to all of the following who birded by car, on foot, watched feeders, did some owling, etc.  Apologies to those who I may have missed despite looking over the lists again and again.

Jay Abercrombie, Carolyn and Joe Ahern, Jan Auburn, Ken and Lois Ballas, Mary Bartos, Kit and Dennis Birch, Kathleen Bradley, Nancy Brewer, Sandy Brown, Ellen Brown-Armstrong, Scott Brozell, Erik Bruder, Jen Brumfield, Lee, Sue and Mary Cavano, Jill and David Collins, Frank Comodeca, Bill Deininger, David Dvorak, Mark Eberling, Maria and Charles Finchum, Bob Finkelstein, Sue Finley, Joanne and Terry Gorges, Kurt Grenig, Jim Hamilton, Sharon Hanse, Jim Heflich, Heather Hodges, Nancy and Don Howell, Mary Lou Hura, Anna Julnes, Lothar and Inge Jung, Rich and Karen Kassouf, Patty Kellner, Jeff and Marian Kraus, Jeff and Irene Krise, JoAnn Kubicki, Ray Kutnar, Kay Lauener, Fred Losi, Paula Lozano, Michelle Manzo, Terri Martincic, Sue Mariani, Bret and Jim McCarty, Liz McQuaid, Aaron Milenski, Tamyra Mouginis, Penny O’Connor, Lukas Padegimas, Michael Pasek, Chris Pierce, Jan Ranahan, Marty Reynard, Craig Rieker, Tom and Mary Anne Romito, Larry Rosche, Jeremiah Roth, Gaye Rule, Robert and Andrea Segedi, Linda Sekura, Judy Semroc, Thomas Sendry, Mark Shaver, Chuck Slusarczyk, Jr., Page Stephens, Helen Taft, Judy Wert, Janet Wertz and Lois Westercamp.