Frozen Fingers / Happy Hearts: Another Season of BSBO's Lake Erie Pelagics

1/13/2026

Another exciting season of BSBO Lake Erie Pelagic trips is in the books. These trips never fail to deliver fun and excitement to those adventurous enough to go birding on a boat in the middle of winter. Winding down the Cuyahoga River overlooking downtown Cleveland is a thrill all its own, but when you pair that with intrepid birders and expert guides who love educating people about these birds, it delivers a unique and memorable birding experience.

Santa and Amar

Speaking of expert guides...

When you invite The Gull Guide author Amar Ayyash to help guide a pelagic, boy does he deliver! (With a major assist from Santa, who hitches a ride on our pelagic to give his reindeer a rest!)

What a thrill and an honor to have one of North America's leading gull experts join us on our pelagic trips. With his sharp eye and expertise, we added some really cool gulls to our trip lists, including:
Great Lakes Gull - (American Herring Gull x Great Black-backed Gull hybrid), Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull, Iceland Gull (Thayer's), Great Black-backed Gull, and Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Order The Gull Guide in the BSBO Online Swamp Shop, HERE!

Great Lakes Gull - (American Herring Gull x Great Black-backed Gull hybrid) American Herring Gull in the background.
Photo by Amar Ayyash

Long-tailed Ducks by Ryan Jacob

Trip reports:

Saturday, December 13

Snow showers with a high around 25F with westerly winds 15 to 25 mph.
Highlights included: Long-tailed Duck (pictured above), Northern Pintail, Iceland Gull, and over 20,000 Red-breasted Merganser!
Leaving the boat dock, we traveled down the Cuyahoga River into Cleveland Harbor and down the inside of the breakwall. On the way back into the river, we had a beautiful view of a snowy Cleveland skyline.

Sunday, December 14

High of 20F with winds NW at 25 to 35 mph with a few snow showers and negative wind chill temperatures.
Highlights included: Great Lakes Gull (American Herring x Great Black-backed Gull hybrid), Glaucous Gull (pictured below), Iceland Gull, Iceland Gull (Thayer's), Great Black-backed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Black-crowned Night Heron family of four, Peregrine Falcon, and Northern Mockingbird.
Since the winds were so high, this trip stayed on the Cuyahoga River and traveled to some destinations that we haven't been before including the Great Lakes Shipyard and Towing Company on the old Cuyahoga River and Industrial Valley up the river. This allowed for great, close looks at birds.

Thursday, January 1

Cloudy skies with a few flurries or snow showers possible and a high of 20°F with westerly winds at 15 to 25 mph.
Highlights included: Three Black-crowned Night Heron, Iceland Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, a good sized flock of Canvasback and Redhead, American Black Duck, Ring-necked Duck, Common Goldeneye, and a Belted Kingfisher.
Winds were high and wind chills were low, so this trip traveled the Cuyahoga River and the old Cuyahoga River into the Industrial Valley up the river like the December 14 trip. This was a great duck trip with close looks at some diving duck species.

We'd like to thank our guides Amar Ayyash, Tim Jasinski, Alex Eberts, Chuck Slusarczyk, Anthony Rodgers, and Gabe Leidy for their time and expertise, all the birders who braved the cold to join us, and the crew of The Holiday, as well!

*All gulls were chummed with Mazuri diving duck pellets, recommended by wildlife rehabilitators. No bread products were used on our trips.