Rocky River Park

Rocky River Park (Cleveland Loop)

This small, six-acre park overlooks Lake Erie and is essentially a "lake watch" site for birders. Massive clouds of migrant Red-breasted Mergansers can be seen in November and December, along with many other species of waterfowl. Gull diversity can be good as well.

Key Species by Season

Spring

• Common Loon
• Bufflehead
• Common Merganser

Summer

• Common Grackle
• Belted Kingfisher
• Mallard

Fall

• White-Winged Scoter
• Black Scoter
• Surf Scoter

Winter

• White-Winged Scoter
• Black Scoter
• Surf Scoter

At-a-Glance

30 - Rocky River Park
Rocky River Parks and Recreation Department
20250 Beach Cliff Boulevard.
Rocky River, OH 44116

440.356.5657

Public Access
Open daily, dawn until dusk

Amenities
Restrooms, Picnic Area, Handicap Accessible Trails

Driving Directions
From Lake Road (U.S. Route 6) turn north on Falmouth Drive to the stop sign at Beach Cliff Boulevard. The park entrance is ahead on the left.

What to Look For

This small, six-acre park overlooks Lake Erie and is essentially a "lake watch" site for birders. Massive clouds of migrant Red-breasted Mergansers can be seen in November and December, along with many other species of waterfowl. Gull diversity can be good as well. Spring brings a variety of migrant songbirds to the park's trees, and favorable weather conditions in March and April can bring noteworthy numbers of migrant raptors overhead.

Noteworthy Rarities

All three scoter species are routinely seen. Notable rarities include Western Grebe, Northern Gannet, Red Phalarope, and Parasitic and Pomarine jaegers.

Local Resources

City of Rocky River, Parks and Recreation 
Positively Cleveland 
Western Cuyahoga Audubon Society 

Nearby Lake Access Site
Rose Point. This lake overlook is slightly less than an acre, and offers a good vista of Lake Erie's open waters. It is only 530 feet east of Rocky River Park, but must be reached by driving east on Beach Cliff Boulevard, and turning north onto Kensington Oval.

About the Cleveland Loop

The Cleveland region—Cuyahoga and Lake counties—is by far the most populous area along Ohio's Lake Erie shoreline. It also harbors the most birders, and as a consequence the bird life of the Cleveland vicinity is better known than probably anywhere else in Ohio. Birding is good at all seasons, and records of exciting rarities abound.

This loop is the most populous region on the trail, as the city of Cleveland and neighboring areas are the most developed locales on Ohio’s Lake Erie shoreline. There are more sites on the Cleveland Area Loop – 28 – than any other loop. Every type of habitat found along the lake occurs on this loop, and some of the sites are among the most famous birding hotspots in the Midwest. The total species list for this loop is 356, and a remarkable 12 of those have only been recorded in this region.

What to Look For

The centerpiece of this loop is the city of Cleveland. The Greater Cleveland area is the largest metropolitan region in Ohio, with a population over two million. There are probably more active birders here than anywhere else in the state and as a consequence this loop's bird list is large and spectacular.

Many of the sites along this loop offer outstanding birding opportunities during spring migration, and a number of these same sites support a great diversity of breeding birds. Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve is a standout among migratory hotspots, and boasts one of the largest bird lists of any single site in Ohio.

The greatest sheer numbers of birds occur in fall migration. Lakeside spots such as Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve draw in scads of songbirds: warblers, thrushes, sparrows, and many others. As fall merges into winter, tremendous numbers of Bonaparte's Gulls and Red-breasted Mergansers build up, especially along the downtown Cleveland lakefront.

Even winter has its charms. Eighteen species of gulls have been found, which puts the Cleveland region near the forefront of North America's best gull-watching locales. Joining the gulls are a wide variety of hardy waterfowl, including scoters, Long-tailed Duck, and the occasional King Eider.

Noteworthy Rarities

At least nine species of birds have been found in the Cleveland region, but nowhere else in Ohio. Some of the mega-rarities include: Common Eider, Ivory Gull, Ross's Gull, Black Guillemot, Common Ground-Dove, Smooth-billed Ani, Boreal Owl, Rock Wren, and Painted Redstart. Some of the sites on this loop are great places to look for rare species such as Purple Sandpiper and Red Phalarope.

Natural Features

Ohio's best remaining natural beach community is found at Headland's Dunes State Nature Preserve. Many rare plants occur there, such as Beach Pea (Lathyrus japonicus), American Beach Grass (Ammophila breviligulata), and Seaside Spurge (Chamaesyce polygonifolia). Fantastic concentrations of Monarch butterflies can gather at lakefront sites in fall migration. Cuyahoga Valley National Park and The Holden Arboretum, in particular, support a staggering array of botanical diversity across a broad range of habitats.