November 10 2012
8:00 am; Old Woman's Creek
We started off our Lake Erie field trip on the backyard beach of our lake house. The first birds sighted were five Ring-Billed Gulls sitting on the shoreline, one of which shrieked a plaintiff call. An immature Herring Gull joined them. Kyle saw an immature Bald Eagle flying towards the group and then going fishing. Ruddy Ducks, Canada Geese, and Horned Grebes were all spotted in the water, and Mallards flew overhead. In the trees nearby, Miles noticed a Dark-eyed Junco and a Red-Bellied Woodpecker.
8:40 am; Huron Pier
We illegally parked at the Huron pier and took a look around near the van along the shore. Miles immediately pointed out American Goldfinches in a small tree right next to the van. A classmate and I noticed, in a bush, finches with a red upper chest with brown stripes on a white belly, which we determined to be House Finches. We peered out into the lake and noticed a large group of various species floating in the water; Hooded Mergansers, Canada Geese, and Mallards. Unfortunately, we soon realized that they were decoys... the lack of movement tipped us off. Immature Herring Gulls, an immature Sabone Gull, and Ring-Billed Gulls were soon noticed floating near the shoreline. A Double-Crested Cormorant flew in the distance, whose silhouette is easily noticeable to our class at this point.
Our first true diagnostic moment as a class was a Merganser; was it a Common or Red-Breasted? We used the scope to get a better view of its field marks, and noticed a brownish-red head that blended into its white and grey chest. We determined that it was a Red-breasted Merganser, considering Common Mergansers' reddish head coloration is starkly contrasted with a white collar. Also, the Red-breasted Merganser had feathers on the back of the head sticking straight out.
10:15; Sheldon Marsh
Sheldon Marsh was a beautiful hiking trail that eventually led to a beach spot. As we piled out of the van and headed to the trail, we heard calls of a Northern Cardinal, a Blue Jay, and a White-Throated Sparrow. We came upon a pond and noticed a Great Blue Heron, which almost immediately took of in an opposite direction. Rusty Blackbirds and American Robins were spotted flitting through the trees across the pond. Kaili and I wanted to go chase down a Northern Cardinal that we noticed for my research project, so we headed away from the group and onto another trail. This led us to a cornfield, and we decided to take a look around because a Bald Eagle was spotted earlier in the area. Lo and behold, we spotted an eagle perching on a branch about 15 feet above us (whose picture I attempted to snag above). It took off immediately, and a juvenile followed along behind it. The rest of the class eventually joined us, and the eagles were spotted again flying in the distance.
On our way to meet up with the rest of the class, we spotted White-Breasted Nuthatches (shown on right). These birds, in Deb's words, are "so cute!" and are in my top three favorite birds seen on the trip. A Red-bellied Woodpecker was also noticed, along with a Tufted Titmouse, a Northern Flicker, and two Downy Woodpeckers. We walked upon the rest of our class, who was gathered around looking at an Immature Cooper's Hawk. This moment was a great highlight of our trip; we had a close-up view of a raptor, my favorite type of bird, in addition to viewing it in flight. Once we arrived at the beach spot, we saw more Ring-Billed Gulls and Pied-Billed Grebes, who were doing their characteristic "grebeing" behavior, along with a few Buffleheads.
1:45 pm; Pickerel Creek
Ryan, an Ohio University Ornithology alumni, suggested this area for some of the interesting aves he's seen in the past. However, there wasn't much activity other than Blackbirds, Grebes, large flocks of Starlings, and a Red-Tailed Hawk.
*During our drive to the next destination, we saw an absolutely gigantic Bald Eagle flying directly above the car.
2:30 pm; West Harbor State Park
The first birds we noticed upon arrival at West Harbor State Park were a group of swans, which were determined to be Mute Swans due to their black-knobbed orange bills. Killdeer, Mallards, and Pied-Billed Grebes were spread out over a pond area close by. In this same area, there were about 70 Great Blue Herons! A Cormorant was spotted flying overhead, along with a couple of Bald Eagles perching in distant trees.
3:30 pm; East Harbor State Park
A fellow birder stopped us right as we got out of the van, and gave us some tips on areas in the park where interesting birds were spotted. While we were at the shore front checking out some Ring-Billed Gulls, Ruddy Ducks, and Great Scaup, the birder came upon us yet again and excitedly informed us of a Great Black-Backed Gull (shown right) about a mile down the shore. We headed that way and eventually spotted the bird among more Ring-Billed Gulls. The Great Black-Backed Gull was immediately noticeable due to its solid black coloration and rather large size. Blue Herons were seen flying, along with some Ruby-Crowned Kinglets and Downy Woodpeckers in nearby trees. Satisfied with the variety of species we encountered, we called it a day and went to go get some ice cream.
2:30 pm; West Harbor State Park
The first birds we noticed upon arrival at West Harbor State Park were a group of swans, which were determined to be Mute Swans due to their black-knobbed orange bills. Killdeer, Mallards, and Pied-Billed Grebes were spread out over a pond area close by. In this same area, there were about 70 Great Blue Herons! A Cormorant was spotted flying overhead, along with a couple of Bald Eagles perching in distant trees.
A fellow birder stopped us right as we got out of the van, and gave us some tips on areas in the park where interesting birds were spotted. While we were at the shore front checking out some Ring-Billed Gulls, Ruddy Ducks, and Great Scaup, the birder came upon us yet again and excitedly informed us of a Great Black-Backed Gull (shown right) about a mile down the shore. We headed that way and eventually spotted the bird among more Ring-Billed Gulls. The Great Black-Backed Gull was immediately noticeable due to its solid black coloration and rather large size. Blue Herons were seen flying, along with some Ruby-Crowned Kinglets and Downy Woodpeckers in nearby trees. Satisfied with the variety of species we encountered, we called it a day and went to go get some ice cream.
November 11 2012
8:50 am; Old Woman's Creek Reserve
Back on the trail, we heard the cry of a Blue Jay, who we spotted a few moments later. An American Tree Sparrow (left) was seen, whose field marks of a small brown spot on the chest, reddish brown cap, black upper bill and yellowish lower bill set it apart from the rest of sparrows. Some classmates noticed a warbler in nearby brush, but it was difficult to determine the specie. Our guess was a "butterbutt", or Yellow-Rumped Warbler. More White-Breasted Nuthatches and Northern Cardinals were also abundant in this area. Finally, we spotted a Hairy Woodpecker, a new species for the class. Some of us had trouble distinguishing male Hairies from female Downies; both are black and white with red on the back of the head. The key difference is beak size; Hairy Woodpeckers' beaks are nearly the same length as the head, while Downy Woodpeckers have small beaks (below).
Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker
10:52 am; Ottowa National Wildlife Refuge
A Rough-Legged Hawk was spotted and identified by Deb on the drive into the Wildlife Refuge. As Kaylee and I were waiting to use the bathroom, we spotted two Red-Tailed Hawks strengthening their pair bond. Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Red-Winged Blackbirds, and Great Blue Herons were also present.
Ottowa Cosway
Two ladies flagged our group down and informed us that two Sandhill Cranes (right) were seen along the cosway. We investigated and spotted the birds among Canada Geese. Killdeer were seen along the water, and Kaylee heard the call of a Belted Kingfisher. 
We left the cosway and headed onto the dyke, leading to a pond and marsh area. This was my favorite area of the trip, as it was for many of my classmates. On the walk, we noticed a juvenile Rough-Legged Hawk and Rusty Blackbirds. Once we got a good view of the pond, we stopped and took a look at some swans through the scope (below). The black bills tipped us off that these were indeed Trumpeter Swans. On the walk back, we noticed a gathering of dabbling ducks and identified them, with the help of Miles, to be American Wigeons. A Peregrine Falcon flew right above our heads, followed by two Bald Eagles.
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