This AM Rick Asamoto and Lenna Mae Gara joined me for a rainy look at Cowan Lake's
current bird population. We ran into Bob Powell, Darlena Graham, and Hank Armstrong and his wife. The following are the highlights:

Common Loon  1 in beautiful summer plummage
Horned Grebe  1 in changing plummage
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Great Blue Heron   1 probably a member of the Heronry near the Spillway Lodge
Double-crested Cormorant  1
BLACK VULTURE  9
Turkey Vulture 20
Canada Goose  C. 300
Tundra Swan 12
Wood Duck  2
American Wigeon 20
American Black Duck 10
Mallard  150+
Northern Pintail  10
Redhead 18
Ring-necked Duck 30
Greater Scaup 10 - more common than previous years. Have Zebra Mussels hit Cowan?
Lesser Scaup  5
Bufflehead  2
Hooded Merganser  8
Common Merganser 2
Red-breasted Merganser 6  (all three Megansers)
Ruddy Duck 8
Coots 11
Belted Kingfisher 1
Killdeer 2
Tree Swallow 1
Brown Creeper 1 spotted by Rick at the very end of our walk
Pileated Woodpecker 1

Most of the waterfowl was in a large group off the Picnic Area, others were seen from the fishing pier and East End, with a few at the Spillway. Much of the lake is still frozen over. We did not check the Heronry to see how many nests are active since Bob Thobaben counted 20 last week.

Cloudy Day Cheers,  Larry Gara, Wilmington, Ohio



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