The power of birding and chance encounters

This is a story that started in the spring of 1989 and came full circle on this 2011 Thanksgiving holiday. It began at a spring 1989 bird watching class I was teaching at the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. As the Center’s new Executive Director I decided my contribution to the Center’s education program would be to provide a series of programs for birders of all ages. One program in that series turned out to be a truly serendipitous and unusual experience for me and the participants.

I came to the Center early that evening to set up for my class and was distracted by an unfamiliar sound. I could hear a steady, high- pitched series of squeaks, which I thought might be an errant bearing in some mechanical equipment. It was not; but the sound persisted. I had to find the origin knowing my hypothesis was incorrect.

I realized the sound was coming from our exterior, live-animal exhibits located behind the Center. Upon further investigation, I could see the resident male Barn Owl at the bottom of his cage stomping his feet and simultaneously belting out the constant shriek. It was quite comical and something I had never heard or seen before.

As I pondered what was going on, I saw a white flash out of the corner of my eye. It was a wild Barn Owl. About this time participants began to arrive for the class. Much to my delight, two of my participants were Father and son. Dad and ten-year-old, Nicholas finally found their instructor peering into the animal exhibits from the windows of a classroom. The Taylors began to watch the drama unfolding at the Center.

Mr. Taylor was a private investigator and offered to go to his car and get his night vision camera to document the captive male Barn Owl that had a attracted what we surmised was a wild female Barn Owl. Mr. Taylor started filming and to my astonishment anther wild Barn Owl appeared in addition to the first. Mr. Taylor documented the foot stomping, the squeaking and the antics of what now appeared  to be three very frustrated but excited Barn Owls.

Let me put this event in perspective. In 1989 there were 18 known pairs of wild Barn Owls in Ohio. There were likely 40 birds in the whole State. A caged Barn Owl just attracted 2 wild Barn Owls right before our eyes. That’s 5% of all of Ohio’s wild Barn Owl population. Furthermore, the wild birds were migrating to the limited extent this species does. The wooded Reservation where the Center is located is anything but the open grassland areas these birds call home. The only reasons wild barn Owls were here was because the birds were on the move and attracted by the caged bird.

The whole event was saved for posterity, shared with the Ohio Division of Wildlife and the memory forever etched in the mind’s all that witnessed this chance encounter. It was a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity and an event unlikely to ever be repeated.

I lost track of the participants of that birding course over the years but I have shared this story thousands of times in several different teaching contexts over the last 22 years. Barn Owls are beautiful, interesting and endangered in Ohio. Their ecological history in Ohio is a fine example of how Ohio has changed over the last 200 years.

When the first Europeans entered the Ohio region there were no Barn Owls. It was said that a squirrel could get on a tree on the Ohio River and never touch the ground until it reached Lake Erie.  It was contiguous, mature, hardwood forest. When the Europeans settled in Ohio they cleared massive amounts of forest for agriculture. The open landscape and explosion of mouse populations foraging on the spoils of poor harvesting techniques attracted Barn Owls in sustainable numbers.

In the 1950’s when agricultural harvesting reduced wasted grain and fence rows were removed for barbed wire fences, mouse populations plummeted. As the mice decreased in numbers so did their nocturnal predator, the Barn Owl. The 18 pair in Ohio in 1989 lived in balance with available mouse populations in the agricultural counties of the state. In short, Barn Owls flourished because of man’s influence and declined from the same as well.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend I went birding at Rocky River Park just a few miles east of the Nature Center I retired from after 21 years.  When I arrived there was a gentleman scanning the Lake with binoculars. I did the same. Eventually we struck up a conversation. This fellow was from New Jersey was home for the holidays to see his family. We talked about birds and Lake Erie and birds and the New Jersey shore and eventually both of us moved on. He was going to spend time with family and I was, of course, off to yet another birding spot.

The next morning I started my birding day at Rocky River Park since it is about 2 miles from where I live. Not too long after I got there the gentleman from New Jersey arrived and joined me and other birders. We were talking and he probingly asked me what I did for a living when I was working. I told him, among other things, that I retired as the Director of the nature Center.

He stepped back and said “I saw a Barn Owl at the Center with my Dad……” I almost flipped out because I knew before he could finish his thought that this man I had met was Nick, the 10 year old boy that took my birding class with his private investigator father.

Nick Taylor is a Senior Environmental Scientist for a private New Jersey company. He is an avid birder that has difficulty fitting this avocation into his busy schedule. After all these years and the course of two very different lives, our trails crossed once again just a few miles from the place where, on one magical night, we all had another chance encounter of the natural kind.

Turkey and dressing aside, Thanksgiving really is a time to reflect and count our blessings. This Thanksgiving I am thankful for chance encounters. I am reminded that the things we do today can and will be relevant 22 years forward.

New Years is quickly approaching and I hope you resolve to spend more time exploring “the middle of nowhere”……..where chance encounters are created and memories abound for many years to come.

Fall Birding Along the Incomparable South Shore of Lake Erie

It isn't hard to understand that Lake Erie is a prominent feature in Ohio, the continent and even on our planet. It is a massive body of water among the Great Lakes of North America. It isn't the largest, nor the deepest, nor necessarily the best known lake of the Great Lakes. But if you have any interest in the weather or birding and the ecology of the region it is impressive indeed.

I am sure that someone could easily blog about nothing else than the Great Lake Erie (and perhaps they do). It is significant in cultural and natural history. It is dynamic and complex. It is environmentally rich despite significant environmental assault since the Europeans settled in this part of North America. I find it interesting that most people in this region know very little if anything about Lake Erie aside from boating, recreation, and light houses. A fact worth remembering (to the unknowing) is that Lake Erie is the drinking water of the "North Coast" of Ohio.

Ohio is an ecologically diverse state that supports many breeding and wintering bird species. Lake Erie is the feature that enriches that ornithological base with some of the finest bird migrations anywhere on the planet. Spring migration through Ohio and beyond is influenced greatly by the Lake. It provides a passageway for migrants heading north east and west to breeding areas. The south shore of the lake and the lake itself combine to provide fuel for marathon migrants in virtually every bird family found in North America.

We aren't talking about some birds moving through. The spring and fall migration of birds along the south shore of Lake Erie and through the north coast of Ohio is so massive it is largely impossible to comprehend. The migration both ways is as complex as the lake itself. Lake Erie is rich in organisms that are destined to be food for masses of waterfowl, gulls, seabirds, shorebirds and all species traveling in the sphere of it's influence. The Lake influences our weather and creates a shoreline ecology that supports plants with seeds, fruits and other spoils necessary to support the substantial migration of songbirds, shorebirds, raptors and others.

What a great place to be if you are a birder! Lake Erie provides spectacular migration spectacles that even seasoned birders can't imagine unless they come here to see it themselves. This is especially true in the fall migration. Lake Erie is a refuge that provides rest and food for the long southward journey to the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic coast and destinations in Central and South America. Fall is a time when there are spectacular numbers of birds present, many of which are otherwise uncommon. There are many birds rarely seen in this region that make their way into the spectrum of possible sightings. This last November 4th was one of 2011 memorable migration extravaganzas.

An example from a November 4, 2011 post from Jen Brumfield on the Ohio Birds List Service:
(OHIO-BIRDS@ LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU)

COUNT TOTALS FROM ROCKY RIVER PARK: RED-THROATED LOON (1), Common Loon (400), RED-NECKED GREBE (1), Horned Grebe (600), Pied-billed Grebe (1), Canada Goose (6), SNOW GOOSE (2 blue morph), Mallard (250), American Black Duck (45), Gadwall (38), Northern Pintail (12), American Wigeon (13), Green-winged Teal (425), Canvasback (65), Greater Scaup (150+), Lesser Scaup (2000), LONG-TAILED DUCK (1), Surf Scoter (44), Black Scoter (52), White-winged Scoter (81), Common Goldeneye (14), Bufflehead (60), Hooded Merganser (4), Common Merganser (85), Red-breasted Merganser (2,800), Dunlin (850), RED KNOT (1), Sanderling (40), POMARINE JAEGER (1), Bonaparte's Gull (2,500), Ring-billed Gull (3,000), Herring Gull (600), Golden-crowned Kinglet (1 came off the lake at dawn), American Pipit (1), Snow Bunting (2). UNIDENTIFIED WATERFOWL (at horizon to 2 miles out): 10,500 individuals.
COUNT TOTALS FROM MENTOR: Common Loon (30), Horned Grebe (40), Tundra Swan (9), BRANT (14), LONG-TAILED DUCK (5), HARLEQUIN DUCK (2), Surf Scoter (37), Black Scoter (22), WHITE-WINGED SCOTER (205), Common Goldeneye (45), Bufflehead (75), Northern Shoveler (3), Northern Pintail (15), American Wigeon (25), Green-winged Teal (42), American Black Ducks & Mallards (abundant), Canvasback (25), Redhead (15), Gadwall (60), Lesser & Greater Scaup (2,000), Common & Red-breasted Mergansers (MANY), Hooded Merganser (1), RED PHALAROPE (1 at count, 2 observed by Emil Bacik at Headlands lighthouse), Snow Bunting (120).
I was at Rocky River Park to experience this spectacular bird movement and the challenge of identifying the many uncommon birds almost entirely in flight. But there is a story behind the story about these spectacular migration spectacles.

It is the weather that brings these birds to the Lake Erie south shore in these numbers. It is usually terrible weather, often cold, rainy and windy. It is brief. The above reported sightings were from daybreak until 11:00 am when the action subsided for the rest of the day. The key is being in the right place at the right time. So it isn't surprising that while most people are on the edge of their couch watching a great movie, birders like me are on the edge of the couch watching storm fronts develop in the Great Lakes region. There's nothing like a hurricane, a nor'easter, an early Pacific blizzard, or tornadoes in the Midwest to set the table for bad weather for Lake Erie and great birding along the North Coast in the fall.

Waterfowl surveys reveal the true abundance of birds associated with the open waters of Lake Erie. The numbers observed are impressive and generally well distributed along all the lake from Ohio to Canada. The bad weather from the north both east and west pushes and concentrates many of the birds spread across the lake to places where birders are able to use spotting scopes and binoculars to view them from shore. It is a challenge and it is sometimes brutal but it can be absolutely amazing.

Of course I have included pictures of Lake Erie in the fall and they obviously don't portray an image of an angry, turbulent Lake Erie with numbing cold and pelting rain. But the calm days with warm south winds can be great birding too. Our recent "Indian Summer" has been both productive and enjoyable. This morning I visited Columbia Park and counted 9 Black Scoters, 8 Hooded Mergansers, 116 Horned Grebes  with in my binocular view, 50 Common Loons, rafts of Red-breasted Mergansers totalling well over a thousand, and opportunistic Ring-billed, Herring, and Bonaparte's Gulls too numerous to count.

There are many days when the birds are scarce on the lake. This is the way it goes. It is the complexity of Lake Erie that makes all these things possible. When fall weather interacts with Lake Erie it becomes enhanced with incredible calm and violent storms. The weather, shifts in food supplies like Gizzard Shad upon which many species forage, and the passage of low pressure systems or cold fronts all provide spectacular birding as well as peace and tranquility for all.

Public access to Lake Erie is surprisingly limited. Most of the best observation points to the Lake are in the central basin of the lake from Huron on the west to Conneaute in the far northeast corner of Ohio. These locations are usually elevated above the water, 70 or more feet in typical. This provides maximum viewing of open water and the horizon where the water meets the sky. There are some locations near where I live which provide good vantages of the lake all within a bot a 6 mile stretch from Western Cleveland to Bay Village on the western edge of Cuyahoga County

Spotting scopes are essential for finding those birds that shy from the shoreline. Lake watching is an acquired skill and with practice and repetitive viewing becomes both a challenging but rewarding aspect of birding. I don't know anyone that likes to stand out in freezing and horrible conditions but they do it because it is an opportunity unlike any other. Once you have experienced a big day like November 4th you begin to realize just how special Lake Erie is in the fall and how important it is to birds using both hemispheres of our planet.

The Middle of Nowhere isn't always just a remote place. It can be, and often is, a regular or well travelled place that is special for reasons completely unknown to others that go there. My life is full of discovery and I see this world as an unlimited source of adventure and wonder. That's why I recommend, Huntington Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks, Columbia Park, Cahoon Park, Bradsteet's Landing, and Rocky River Park in Cleveland's western suburbs for some exciting fall birding. Hope for bad weather....and good birding!