I made a quick run-through of most of the major view points for waterfowl on both of these reservoirs today, hoping that the changing weather would drive in new birds.  Instead, I wound up with surprisingly few waterfowl and more interesting raptors and landbirds.  Highlights included:

Dabbling ducks - hardly any, with a few small clusters of Mallards mostly in Hoover reservoir

Diving Ducks - a small raft of Scaup was off the Walnut St, boat ramp at Hoover, as were a few Bufflehead.  Another cluster of 12 Ruddy Ducks was off Oxbow Island.   Hooded Mergansers are building numbers at Hoover, with 15 off Wiese rd, 30 off Oxbow Island, and another 7 off the Sunbury causeway.  The first Red-breasted Mergansers were represented by 5 off Oxbow Island.

Loons,Grebes,Cormorants - only 2 Common Loons remained from the larger number at Alum Lake late last week.  There were also 3 Horned Grebes still there, and another off Oxbow Island at Hoover.  A Pied-billed was next to the Walnut St. Boat ramp. 2 Cormorants were still off the north side of the Sunbury causeway (Hoover).

Raptors - 3 Bald Eagles were at the Cheshire causeway at Alum Lake.  The northern end of Hoover still had 5 Turkey Vultures, but even more interesting was a single Black Vulture around the I270-State161 interchange in NE Columbus(!).  Red-tailed Hawks were at many locations, suggesting that they may have been pushed in by the colder weather.

Shorebirds - the north end of Hoover is about as low as it has ever been, but shorebirds were few and far between this late, with only 1 Kildeer and 2 Dunlin.

Thrushes - small flocks of Robins were at many locations along the Alum Lake shoreline, feasting on a good grape crop (along with prodigious numbers of Starlings).  E.Bluebird flyovers were at New Galena and Oxbow Island, while a flock of 15 adorned the wires along Oxbow Road (that leads down to the island).

Cedar Waxwings - still surprisingly common, with flocks of 30 at New galena, 20 at SummerRidge access, and 10 at Oxbow Island, and 1-2 at several other locations

Sparrows - White-throated flocks were legion, but they were joined by Towhees at several locations (New Galena, Oxbow), Fox Sparrows (New galena, Wiese rd), and Tree Sparrows (SummerRidge access-Alum)

Finches - No Purple Finches, but small numbers of Goldfinches were everywhere, and single Pine Siskins were at New Galena and Oxbow Island.

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