I hit several of the more southerly access points on Hoover Reservoir this morning
while dodging rain & sleet.  I visited the dam, Walnut Street ramp, Area E-F,
Mxxtown boat ramp, and the Sunbury causeway, and found some interesting birds despite the weather (or maybe because of it).  Waterfowl and landbirds were both scattered, so you had to look carefully to find stuff.  Highlights included:

Waterfowl - little in the way of ducks, other than scattered geese & mallards
and a flock of 12 Ruddy Ducks off the Sunbury causeway.  More interesting were Common Loons, with 3 off Walnut St. ramp (I was lucky enough to be there as they dropped in from the sky) and another off the Sunbury causeway.  The causeway also had 3 Horned grebes.  There was also a flock of 46+ cormorants actively feeding off Area F, probably in preparation for flying south; the causeway only had 8.

Raptors - hardly any.  I saw no vultures (although they may have been keeping a
low profile in the ugly weather), but I did find a juvenile Osprey feasting on a
fish off Area F.

Gulls - several flocks of Ring-bills included a few Bonapartes, which are starting
to appear with regularity here now.

Swallows - I saw 1 bird gliding around the spillway below the dam, and rushed down
for a closer look only to find a very late Rough-winged Swallow.  All that glides
now is not necessarily a Cave swallow!

Robins,Waxwings - very few were around the reservoir, except at one spot: the park
below the dam, where the protected conditions allowed for a good crop of honeysuckle berries.  Here, it was frugivore pandemonium, with Robins, Waxwings, and Starlings all flocking in to vie for the fruit, with 500+ birds squeezed into an acre or so.  There was even a stray Rusty Blackbird marching around the edge of the grass here.

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