Welcome to 2016!

I'd like to dedicate this post to my Grandma, since January 1st is her birthday!

Alright... My resolution for the new year is to update this blog more regularly! January consisted of a lot of little trips as I, along with many other Ohio birders, attempted to rack up 100 species in Ohio in the first month of the year. The "January 100" is how birders celebrate the new year
, and it's a good reason to keep birding in the cold months at the beginning of the year.

January 1st I was up early and looking for birds. I drove up to Springfield Lake in Akron to get a second look at the rarest North American bird I've seen: Ohio's first Kelp Gull! I arrived at the lake at 07:00 and found that I wasn't the only one looking for him. Dozens of other birders had lined up in the dark to train their scopes on the lake. The reason we arrived early is that the gulls roosting on the lake would all leave at sunup to go do gull stuff, like eat garbage and poop on cars. That leaves only a narrow window to find the bird and identify it before it disappeared.

Long story short, the gull did not appear. It's possible that he slipped out before it was light enough to see. Either way, I had my first birds of the year including two difficult birds: Cackling Goose and Common Loon. I left the lake with several other birders to pursue my first new bird of 2016! A super-rare Brambling had flown all the way from Europe to find some bird feeders at a house in Medina, and I was determined to see it. I lined up with almost 100 birders to wait. We recorded several good birds before the Brambling eventually showed, including a Pileated Woodpecker. With the Brambling in the bag, I made a quick stop in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to look for a Green Heron that had been staying nearby. No luck with the Heron, but I still recorded some fun birds like Eastern Bluebirds, Cedar Waxwings, and Gadwalls,

I left the CVNP and headed for Lake Erie, the source of many great January birds. My first stop was tiny Sims Park in Euclid where I grabbed another Life Bird: a King Eider! She was far out on the lake, but was joined by a small group of Black Scoters, another great bird for January. I picked up a few other species that were out on the lake and then made my way downtown.

Perk Plaza in the middle of downtown Cleveland is not a usual birding destination. It's a 200x400 slab of concrete in the middle of the city, but the tiny row of bushes on the western edge was chock-full of sparrows. I sorted through the White-crowned Sparrows that are omnipresent during Ohio winters and found my targets: late-staying Ovenbird, Lincoln's Sparrow, and Swamp Sparrow. I was three birds richer in 15 minutes; thanks El Niño!

The late Ovenbird skulking through the bushes

I made a short drive for one of the mandatory winter birding stops: Wendy Park on Whisky Island. Although it's not really an island, the little park at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river is a great place to scan for gulls. On this day, the park was hosting two rarities: a Black-Headed Gull and a Little Gull which were hanging out with a few thousand of their more common cousins, the Bonaparte's Gulls. I walked to the old Coast Guard station at the edge of the lake, and as soon as I stopped the Black-headed Gull flew right over my head! This awesome bird was my third Life Bird of the day/month/year! After some scanning in the frigid wind I was able to spot the pitch black underwings of the Little Gull as it darted around the Harbor, and also recorded a rather uncommon Glaucous Gull sitting on the water. My eyes watering and my fingers numb, I made my way to the car to chase my last Cleveland bird of the day.

Burke Lakefront Airport was pretty quiet on the New Year, so I was able to walk inside and scan the runways for my quarry in relative comfort. The problem was that the Snowy Owl reported earlier wasn't visible from inside the terminal any more! I jumped in the car and cruised the long fence bordering the airfield until I saw a group of birders with scopes on the runway! I jumped out of the car and with a "mind if I take a look?" picked up a Snowy! Time to head home, with one quick stop along the way.

There were two great birds hanging out near a little boat launch in Delaware County, and I raced the sun to have time to see them. Due to some confusion on my part about which specific boat ramp I needed, I barely got my last two birds of the day: an uncommon-for-January Horned Grebe and a very-uncommon-at-any-time-for-Ohio Eared Grebe! I headed home and tallied up my birds. 54 species with three life birds! Here's the January 1st list:

1. Cackling Goose - Springfield Lake
2. Canada Goose - Springfield Lake
3. Mallard - Springfield Lake
4. Common Loon - Springfield Lake
5. Great Blue Heron - Springfield Lake
6. Bonaparte's Gull - Springfield Lake
7. Ring-billed Gull - Springfield Lake
8. Herring Gull - Springfield Lake
9. Lesser Black-backed Gull - Springfield Lake
10. American Crow - Springfield Lake
11. Carolina Wren - Springfield Lake
12. White-throated Sparrow - Springfield Lake
13. Northern Cardinal - Springfield Lake
14. Rock Pigeon - Allardale Park
15. Mourning Dove - Allardale Park
16. Red-bellied Woodpecker - Allardale Park
17. Downy Woodpecker - Allardale Park
18. Hairy Woodpecker - Allardale Park
19. Pileated Woodpecker - Allardale Park
20. Blue Jay - Allardale Park
21. Black-capped Chickadee - Allardale Park
22. Tufted Titmouse - Allardale Park
23. White-breasted Nuthatch - Allardale Park
24. American Robin - Allardale Park
25. European Starling - Allardale Park
26. American Tree Sparrow - Allardale Park
27. Dark-eyed Junco - Allardale Park
28. Brambling - Allardale Park
29. House Finch - Allardale Park
30. American Goldfinch - Allardale Park
31. House Sparrow - Allardale Park
32. Gadwall - Cuyahoga Valley NP
33. American Black Duck - Cuyahoga Valley NP
34. Red-tailed Hawk - Cuyahoga Valley NP
35. Belted Kingfisher - Cuyahoga Valley NP
36. Eastern Bluebird - Cuyahoga Valley NP
37. Cedar Waxwing - Cuyahoga Valley NP
38. Song Sparrow - Cuyahoga Valley NP
39. King Eider - Sims Park
40. Black Scoter - Sims Park
41. Common Goldeneye - Sims Park
42. Red-breasted Merganser - Sims Park
43. Great Black-backed Gull - Sims Park
44. Ovenbird - Ralph J. Perk Plaza
45. Lincoln's Sparrow - Ralph J. Perk Plaza
46. Swamp Sparrow - Ralph J. Perk Plaza
47. Double-crested Cormorant - Wendy Park, Whiskey Island
48. Bald Eagle - Wendy Park, Whiskey Island
49. Black-headed Gull - Wendy Park, Whiskey Island
50. Little Gull - Wendy Park, Whiskey Island
51. Glaucous Gull - Wendy Park, Whiskey Island
52. Snowy Owl - Burke Lakefront Airport
53. Horned Grebe - Alum Creek SP
54. Eared Grebe - Alum Creek SP

I'll do another post soon with the rest of January, but this first day blitz was a great start! Thanks for reading, and check back soon!