Lake County is home to many interesting species.
By John Pogacnik, Biologist
Spring migration ended with the last migrants seen the second week of June. Sandpipers began making their southbound migration the last week of June. Migrant yellow warblers were seen along the lakefront during July 4 weekend. Just like that, we have gone from spring to fall migration. Fall land bird migration doesn’t really pick up until August, so in the meantime, why not take a look at some of the great breeding birds that can be found in Lake County?
Spring birders at Magee Marsh get excited at seeing Louisiana waterthrushes, cerulean warblers, yellow-throated warblers and hooded warblers. All them are breeding birds in Lake County and are pretty easy to find. Louisiana waterthrush are along many of the larger wooded streams. Studies conducted in Pennsylvania show that the Louisiana waterthrush is an indicator species for high quality streams with abundant stream insects. Water quality in many of the streams flowing into the Grand River are high quality and have good populations of this bird. If this warbler starts to decline, we know that there are water quality problems. Good places to look for these birds are Hell Hollow Wilderness Area, Indian Point Park and Hogback Ridge Park.
Cerulean warbler is an interesting species. It has been declining in much of its range, but in Lake County we have seen only minor declines. The cerulean is interesting as they use two completely different habitats. They can be found along the rivers and larger streams or they can be found in upland areas. They like habitat with a dense undercover, so good places to look for them are Indian Point Park, Hidden Valley Park and Chapin Forest Reservation.
Yellow-throated warbler is a rather recent arrival to Lake County—25 years ago they were rarely found anywhere in northern Ohio. Their numbers have slowly increased and they are now fairly easy to find. Their old name is sycamore warbler and they are always found in floodplain areas with abundant large sycamores. Good parks to check are Hidden Valley Park, Riverview Park and Indian Point Park.
Hooded warbler is fairly common in large woodlands with a good understory. Many of our woods are losing the dense understory due to white-tailed deer and earthworms. As the understory decreases, so do hooded warblers. In some areas, grapes are causing problems because as they become dense, the weight brings down trees and large branches. In the past it was recommended that the amount of grapes be reduced to avoid this, but now these large grape areas are sometimes the only areas where there is good nesting habitat due to the loss of understory elsewhere in the woods. Because of this, we don’t manage grapes unless it is a sensitive area. Good places to see hooded warblers are Hidden Valley Park, Hell Hollow Wilderness Area and Hogback Ridge Park.
There are many other good breeding birds to be found. In the last 25 years, there have been breeding records of 25 different warblers. Some of the rare breeders found have been golden-winged warbler, northern waterthrush, black and white warbler, Prothonotary warbler, Nashville warbler, mourning warbler, Kentucky warbler, northern Parula, Blackburnian warbler and black-throated blue warbler.
Hermit thrush
Lake County has an abundance of eastern hemlocks that can be found in many of the ravines along the Grand and Chagrin Rivers. Hemlocks are great places to look for breeding birds. Blue-headed vireos, winter wrens, magnolia warblers, Canada warblers, black-throated green warblers and dark-eyed juncos can be found in some of the hemlock ravines with a dense understory. Hermit thrushes and northern saw-whet owls have been found in the hemlock swamps. On some of the larger stands of hemlocks Blackburnian warblers, northern Parulas and long-eared owls have been found. Parks with a lot of hemlock are Hell Hollow Wilderness Area, Girdled Road Reservation, Indian Point Park, Chapin Forest Reservation and Penitentiary Glen Reservation.
The large open brushy fields at Lake Erie Bluffs are another good area to check for breeding birds. Yellow-breasted chats, white-eyed vireos, least flycatchers, willow flycatchers and alder flycatchers are often found. Large grassy meadows like the one at Chagrin River Park are worth checking for bobolinks, eastern meadowlarks and savannah sparrows. Lark sparrows, Henslow’s sparrows and dickcissels have been found in the past.
There are a lot of other uncommon birds that breed in the county such as common mergansers (Grand River), yellow-bellied sapsuckers (wet habitats), purple finches (conifer forests) and pine siskins (conifers). There are many good birds breeding in this county, so why not head out and out and see for yourself? If you find any rare species, please be sure to let us know.
Yellow-bellied sapsucker
We are in the midst of the breeding season with many young birds now leaving the nest. If you get out early in the day, you will hear many birds singing. Fall migration is starting to pick up with yellow warblers, Baltimore orioles and orchard orioles. Sandpipers are the stars of migration this time of year. If you can find habitat, check it out.
Many young are now fledging, so there is a lot to see. Within the last week, young hermit thrushes were seen at Hell Hollow Wilderness Area, yellow-bellied sapsuckers were seen at Girdled Road Reservation and cerulean warblers were found at Hidden Valley Park. Migrant yellow warblers and Baltimore orioles were seen at Lakeshore Reservation. Farther afield, sandpipers are being seen with American avocet in Conneaut and willet in Cleveland.
Birding at Lake Metroparks
Photos by John Pogacnik, Lake Metroparks Biologist