By Lukas Padegimas

January 24, 2009, was a frigid day to be out birding. The temperature fell to 10 degrees, from a high of 45 F the day before. The wind-chill made it feel like 0 F. However, a nice number of people from the Kirtland Bird Club and seven Ohio Young Birders bravely battled the cold to be in attendance for this outing. East 72nd Street is notorious for freezing people faster than any other place in Ohio.

For the first time in more than eight years, Lake Erie was frozen near the shore. This was supposed to bring in a lot of gulls by the power plant and close to shore for good viewing, but the wind forced most of the ducks and gulls far out into an open water area beyond the large stretch of ice.

Upon arriving, Paula Lozano and I saw a several flocks of gulls circling way out. A raptor must have been scaring them up. It turned out to be a beautiful adult Bald Eagle flying over the lake and then back over the plant. The eagle flew by several times before finally disappearing. Unlike in Northwest Ohio, Bald Eagles are not common around Cleveland, so this one was quite an unusual sight.

Most of the gulls and waterfowl were too far out to identify with the scope. Several male and female Canvasbacks were close to shore. A small group of Lesser Scaup surrounded them, and one Ring-necked Duck was also mixed in.

Far out on the ice was a flock of at least 75 Canada Geese. Several Buffleheads arrived at the small amount of open water in front of us.

Our group generally didn’t move from our location because there was no open water farther down. Unlike the last gull walk, only a few gulls were around this time. Even when the lake is covered in ice, tons of Herring and Ring-billed Gulls usually fly by the power plant, with a nice number of Bonaparte’s Gulls mixed in. On this day, only three Bonaparte’s Gulls were seen, and only a few of the Herrings and Ringed-bills remained.

A nice surprise for everyone in attendance was a beautiful second year Glaucous Gull that sat close to shore on the ice. Everyone had great looks. One Great Blacked-backed Gull flew by. Near the end of the ice, one could see thousands of Ring-billed Gulls and a lot of scaup, Canada Geese, and Canvasbacks. However, open water was too far away to pick out anything unusual.

Since no other birds were coming in, Sarah Winnicki and I decided to see if we could find more ducks next to the rocks that were out of view of the other birders. We were rewarded with a beautiful Red-breasted Merganser. It was strange that only one merganser was around, because this area is usually filled with hundreds. The lack of birds close to shore made this trip unusual.

As the sun rose higher, activity along the lake increased. Several Canvasbacks took off and were replaced by more Canvasbacks. Also, two flocks of Redheads moved in close to shore. One never gets tired of looking at Canvasbacks and Redheads.

During the group’s watch, two Common Mergansers were also seen. After seeing nothing new for a while, part of the group went to the Eastlake Power Plant while Sarah, some other Kirtland Bird Club members, and I went to Burke Lake Front Airport to search for the two Snowy Owls that had been spotted there during the winter.

The juvenile Snowy Owl had stayed at the airport since November, and an adult arrived in mid-January. Despite searching for the owls at several different locations, we didn’t see either of them.

The airport was covered in snow, making it hard to see the owls. Surprisingly, only one raptor was spotted during our search: an American Kestrel. Then we decided to bird from inside the airport, which prompted one person in our group to say, “Out from the Antarctica and into the tropics.” Birding from inside the airport made it a little easier to concentrate, but the owls must have been hunkering down somewhere.

After the search, most of our group went to the Eastlake Power Plant, which had some more birds, including Iceland Gulls and a White-winged Scoter. Overall, the birding was a little slow, but the Bald Eagle and the beautiful Glaucous Gull up close were great treats that made this trip memorable.