I spent an enjoyable evening watching the waterfowl come in to the new
wetlands along White Chapel Road, part of the Dawes Arboretum's land.  In
the time I was there - about 5:30 to a little after 7 pm - around 200
waterfowl came in.  Most circled and circled before finally coming down.  I
set up my scope just off the road, got a group of birds in my binoculars,
and watched the touch-down in the scope.  Included were:



Canada geese XX

Wood duck X

Mallards XX

American black duck - 2 for sure, possible more

Northern shoveler-  2 males  (Licking Co. March bird # 63)

Blue winged teal - 1 male

Green winged teal XX  (Licking Co. March bird #64)

Bufflehead - pair



There is so much tall grass that it is sometimes hard to get a good count.
Watching the birds land gave me a better idea of the numbers, and was a
spectacle that I had never had the opportunity to observe before.  It also
gave me a chance to observe birds in flight and sort out IDs, something I'm
not yet good at doing.



In the same area:

Tree swallows - XX

Red-winged blackbirds XX

Common grackles XXX

Killdeer XX

Great blue heron - 1

Pileated woodpecker - flying over the wetlands - Cool!



Also observed along Licking Trail Road:



American tree sparrow XX

Song sparrows XX







What a great way to end a great day!



Margaret Bowman

Licking Co., OH


______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

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