Among the many weighty considerations that go into planning one of our outings, many of them unbeknownst to the casual participant, are the answers to three questions:

            1) where have interesting birds been found recently? (2) where have interesting birds been found historically? And (3) what, based upon numerous considerations not only historical and but also theoretical, should be the places where interesting birds are most likely to occur? These questions, of course, represent three levels of increasing abstraction and surmise as to the overarching question: where can we go to find some good birds on Saturday?

            The framework is unavoidable. On the first week of October Mother Nature offers only so many species. Migration is a mighty factor. A forecast for cloudless skies, mild winds, and 90 degrees ruled some things out, and others in. Climatic conditions played a role: the south was parched with drought, and even in the north a lot of wet spots have dried up. A past week of calm weather promised few dramatic surprises, but rather an orderly progression of the expected. The results of this trip showed the interplay of all these known factors.

            As for (1), we kept track of reports across the state over the week preceding our trip. Some interesting water birds in the western state were tempting, but many of us had been to seek them out, and they were far enough apart as to make for too much road time. Some intriguing reports from along Lake Erie were being made however, and our group of eleven aimed ourselves that way. One perfect example involved a patch of weeds within view of the Lake in Rocky River, where we learned both Nelson's and Le Conte's sparrows had been found in the previous days. There were multiple competent witnesses; after talking with several to verify the exact location, we arrived there after lunch. About eleven birder-hours later we had seen a few common sparrows and a sedge wren. We concluded that migrants arriving from along the lakeshore or from the other side might very well welcome such a little patch of native habitat to rest and feed upon arriving, but that the heat of mid-day many would have dispersed them further. Next time, we'll stop at such a place first thing in the morning.

            As for (2), an example was the place we did choose for our first stop, the old Coliseum site in Summit Co. This immense field, ringed by trees, had produced those hard-to-find sparrows last October and the one before. We actually ran into the observer of these birds as he walked around, trying to duplicate his finds of 2006. He hadn't seen them. The weather, he told us, had not cooperated, and the little patches of cattail in the swales just hadn't been wet enough to attract these species this year. Not that we all didn't get pretty wet just from the dew trudging around for maybe 15 birder-hours, but we mostly saw the more expected sparrow species, a few warblers, etc. Next time we'll consult more of the local gurus before relying on the perhaps quirky happenings of the previous year.

            We did better with (3). Here we invoked the hoary ghosts of ancient lore, born in the perennial hot spots of lakeside birding in migration. Here we had little hot news, but rather decades of knowledge of the places birds have always showed up at this time.

            After visiting the Coliseum, we went to Gordon Park, where migration was obviously in progress. The lawns were alive with swarms of sparrows, the trees with warblers, flycatchers, vireos, and woodpeckers, and we spent a pleasant hour sorting through them in the park and over the fence around Dike 14. Later in the day we stopped at another lakeside impoundment, in Lorain. This fabled spot has fallen upon hard times in recent times, degraded in the usual way: too much dredge spoil had upset the hydrology, and phragmites had taken over. Our history of finding good sparrows here however stretches well back into the 1970s, and its prime location during migration is undeniable still. We found the place had changed: someone had scraped away a lot of the impenetrable reed cover and bulldozed roads through the rest, while building dikes for future impoundments. We were skeptical about the eventual result, but took advantage of the improved access through the vegetation, and soon began finding hundreds of sparrows. Most were of the already encountered common species, but we had a few Nelson's, and a long leisurely look at one in the open. We were happily occupied for maybe another fifteen birder-hours, staggering along the rough pathways, pishing and squinting and sweating and doing all the things birders do when things are going well.  We hadn't heard a word from other birders about Lorain. We just remembered, as no doubt the birds themselves do, this legendary stopover on the long journeys.  Our focus for the day was narrow, but we still accumulated a decent list of 63, which follows: