Alex Hughes and I spent the afternoon birding at Griggs Dam in Columbus
before heading north to Big Island in search of raptors.  Among the highlights:

Griggs Dam: The stretch of river from the dam to about half a mile downriver
was very productive for water birds.  In this stretch, we had good looks at:

Common Merganser (1)
Hooded Merganser (4)
Bufflehead (2)
Ring-necked Duck (7)
American Black Duck (10)
Mallards and Canada Geese (Many)
Pied-billed Grebe (2)
Great Blue Heron (5)
Belted Kingfisher (1)

We then headed north to Big Island, where we took in the Short-eared
Owl/Harrier show.  An additional surprise at Big Island was a Merlin perched
in a tree on the south side of OH-95 about a mile west of the observation
platform.  We had time to pull over briefly to confirm the ID before traffic
forced us to move along.

Good birding,
Alex Champagne
OSU Ornithology Club

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