I stopped by the Alum Creek Lake Dam spillway this afternoon and was rewarded with very close views of a large flock of diving ducks.  Clearly, these birds are waiting for the rest of the reservoir to thaw out, as February sightings of diving ducks here have been strong for the past several years.  Included in the mass today were

100+ Redhead
10 Canvasback
3 Lesser Scaup
2 Bufflehead
16 Common Goldeneye
12 Red-br.Mergansers

Also present were some 30 Canada Geese, 1 juvenile Mute Swan, 60+ Mallards, and 1 Gadwall, so it was quite a waterfowl bonanza.  And it was all close-by; I doubt I was further than 40 yards from much of the flock at one point.  Why photographers were not lined up at this location was a mystery to me, but the bonanza will disappear over the next day or so as the reservoir opens up.

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.


You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]