Back to the Deer Creek Reservoir again - it ain't Lake Erie, but it's a lot closer.  Birds seen there today included :

83 Gadwalls (in one raft)
1 Ring-necked Duck
~20 Hooded Mergansers
~10 Ruddy Ducks
5 Common Loons
~25 Pied-billed Grebes
~15 Horned Grebe
~20 Great Blue Herons (way down in numbers)
1 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN
4  D-c Cormorants
~115 Am. Coots
~150 Killdeers
3 Greater Yellowlegs
~20 Dunlins
~25 Wilson's Snipes
~800 Bonaparte's Gulls (down in numbers)
~600 Ring-billed Gulls
Herring Gulls (several)

Today's highlight by far was NORTHERN SHRIKE that allowed for great scope views near entrance to the beach. There is plenty of excellent habitat for it there, so hopefully it will hang around for a while. The parking area to the beach is now gated off (a loud boo and hiss to ODNR for doing that!). Unfortunately the nearest parking area is at least a quarter mile away  now. I have just been parking at the gate and walking down there. While it's probably not technically legal to do so, there aren't any "No Parking" signs there and it doesn't seem to be patrolled by anyone.  The shrike was between the gate and the beach. The beach itself offers one of the best spots to scan the water on the south end.  This is the first time I've personally seen a N. Shrike further south than the BIWA area in Marion Co., although I recall hearing reports of one from the AEP grasslands in Muskingum Co. a couple years ago, which is about the same latitude as Deer Creek.

Bob Royse


Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com

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