Hadn't thought to post this as there really was not much to seen.
  But those perhaps travelling through the area on their way to see
  a towhee my have an interest as to what is about.

  Mon I picnicked atop the observation tower at Magee Marsh. The
  24 mph winds and 27 deg temps weren't ideal but at least the
  sun come out after the morning snow squall. The 6 hr effort
  yielded 3 Bald Eagles and a Red-tailed Hawk ... typical of a NW
  wind. Two local Rough-legged Hawks hunted the entrance road
  all day.

  Tue 6 Mar ... drove about the Sandusky Bay area ... really very little
  to see as ice cover was still fairly complete.

  Castalia Pond

  Canada Goose - 670
  Mute Swan - 2
  Gadwall - 16
  American Black Duck - 4 (absurdly low number)
  Mallard - 59
  American Wigeon - 48
  Northern Shoveler - 71
  Northern Pintail - 2
  Redhead - 68
  Canvasback - 42
  Lesser Scaup - 58
  Greater Scaup - 14
  Ring-necked Duck - 28
  Bufflehead - 6
  Common Goldeneye - 2
  Ruddy Duck - 4
  American Coot - 18

  This is among the larger bay duck
  concentrations I have recorded for this pond,
  and certainly the first time bay ducks have
  outnumbered puddle ducks.

  The Sandusky Bay was open at Bay View
  under the Rt.2 bridge. Normally this
  is ideal for making for some nice concentrations
  especially of Canvasback which can number
  upwards of 9000 briefly at ice break up. However,
  on this day, there was very little worth noting.

  The bulk of the waterfowl were made up of ...

  Redhead - 750+
  Canvasback - 900+
  Scaup spp. - 250+
  Common Merganser - 1100+

  the 12,000+ Ring-billed Gulls were largely
  devoid of Herring Gulls and no other gull species
  were seen.

  Some open water at Medusa Marsh (mainly south of
  Rt. 2) held ...

  Canada Goose - 960
  Mute Swan - 24
  Tundra Swan - 2
  Gadwall - 30+
  Mallard - 100+
  Northern Shoveler - 2
  Ameircan Wigeon - 15+
  Ring-necked Duck - 12
  Redhead - 100+
  Greater Scaup - 5
  Lesser Scaup - 19
  Hooded Merganser - 8
  American Coot - 6

  Huron harbor area was completely frozen.

  East Harbor, Catawba I., Port Clinton
  were also iced in.

  On the other hand, should you simply enjoy Bald Eagles,
  right now it is hard to miss them ...with a dozen or more
  noted while driving Rt. 2 ... many coursing low over the
  highway, or otherwise perched on the ice from the Huron
  River to Sandusky Bay and the Portage River.

  cheers

  Vic Fazio
  Shaker Heights, OH





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