I spent 6 hours this morning (4:30 - 10:30) in reconn for Friday's
Earlham College's Birding Big Day (a fund raiser for alumni of the
college, see the Earlham College website if interested in learning
more).  The area covered is the Whitewater River Valley, part of
which is in nearby Ohio.  I visited the Miami Whitewater Forest (MWW)
and wetlands in Ohio and then the Whitewater River Valley up to and
including a few stops at Brookville Lake (BL).

I totaled 92 species; very few true migrant passerines were found.
The air above the fast-flowing tailwaters below the Brookville Lake
dam were swarming with swifts and swallows feeding on emerging
insects on this cold morning.  A male BLUE GROSBEAK at the Brookville
Lake dam was the top highlight of the day.

Highlights:

Pied-billed Grebe 2 (calling, MWW)
Double-crested Cormorant 76 (8 MWW, 68 BL)
Great Egret 1 (Dunlapsville, BL)
Black Vulture 7
Blue-winged Teal 3 (MWW)
Hooded Merganser 3 females (1 MWW, 2 on Whitewater River in Dearborn Co., IN)
Osprey 3 (1 on Whitewater River in Dearborn Co., 2 at Whitewater
State Park nest)
Bald Eagle 2 (imm at Dunlapsville)
Merlin 1 (MWW - flyover over forest)
Virginia Rail 1 (MWW)
Sora 10 (MWW)
Bonaparte's Gull 151 (BL)
Ring-billed Gull 45
Forster's Tern (BL, 1 at Mounds SRA, 1 near Dunlapsville Causeway)
Chimney Swift 220 (tailwaters in Brookville, IN)
Willow Flycatcher 1 (MWW)
Great Crested Flycatcher 1 (Brookville Lake dam overlook area)
Eastern Kingbird 2
Purple Martin 24
Tree Swallow 490
No. Rough-winged Swallow 6
Bank Swallow 320
Cliff Swallow 45
Barn Swallow 775
Nashville Warbler 1 (MWW)
Cerulean Warbler 1 (MWW)
Ovenbird 1 (MWW)
Kentucky Warbler 1 (MWW)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 (Dearborn Co.)
BLUE GROSBEAK 1 (beautiful male feeding on the roadside along
entrance to the Brookville Lake dam overlook)

Bill Buskirk
Biology Department and
Joseph Moore Museum of Natural History
Earlham College
Richmond, IN 47374