Epic Journey

 

January 30th

          Today was an extraordinary epic journey to successfully find our most sought-after target birds.  We left the house at 6:45am to drive south of Columbus in search of a Ross’s Goose which had been seen at 3:30pm yesterday.  This goose is quite uncommon and has only been seen in the Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati areas this winter.  It took us over 2 ½ hours to get there and we were rewarded with an immediate sighting.  A Ross’s Goose is a smaller version of a Snow Goose and is uncommon east of the Mississippi.  After this initial success, we were trying to decide where to go next.  Mike said, “Maybe we should just drive in Cleveland and try to get the scoter and the white-winged gulls”.  I said, “You’re right. They are our most important targets”      

          We got on I-71 and 2 ½ hours later we arrived at a spot along the Cuyahoga River in industrial downtown Cleveland.  This is probably close to where the river caught on fire in 1969!  The river was unfrozen, and we were fortunate to see a female White-winged Scoter and a Glaucous Gull in this location.  It looks like I saw a White-winged Scoter before Mike got his Yellow-rumped Warbler. This was an interesting neighborhood called Tremont with street names like Literary, Professor and University which apparently referred to the now defunct Cleveland University.

          Next, we went to the nearby East 55th St. Marina.  We pulled into a parking space and right next to our car was an Iceland Gull just sitting there.  It was just unbelievable that we found these four very special birds in one day.  Of course, we still had to drive over two hours to get back home.  What a day!  I had to make myself a martini to celebrate!  (4 new species, total 121)

          Ross’s Goose (scarce)                           Glaucous Gull (scarce)

          White-winged Scoter (scarce)                 Iceland Gull (scarce)   

                                                          Ross's Goose

                                              White-winged Scoter (female)

                                                        Iceland Gull


Comments

  1. AnnJanuary 31, 2022 at 5:29 AM

    I am going to toast you with some Cabernet! You are just racking up those rarities.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John SobetzerJanuary 31, 2022 at 2:00 PM

    Excellent. What do you listen to while doing those long drives? The Byrds?

    ReplyDelete

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