On Dec. 8, 2007 I made several stops on Hoover Reservoir and had some 
interesting sightings at some of them.

At Oxbow Recreation area I saw two pairs of house finches, numerous 
cardinals, and two hairy woodpeckers. I saw two immature red tail hawks 
and one adult.  There wasn't much in the way of waterfowl here because the 
water was still frozen but I did see some Canada Geese walking on the ice 
and three herons in flight.

At Mudhen Marsh I saw the resident kingfisher, a merlin, and two herons in 
flight as well as numerous Cardinals.

Baldridge boat ramp was the highlight of the day.  Just south of the boat 
ramp there was a large flock of geese.  There were two or three (maybe 
even more) subspecies of Canada Geese in the flock.  One was much smaller 
than the geese we see in suburban Columbus and was probably a Richardson's 
goose.  There were snow geese, greater white fronted geese and even a 
tundra Swan in the mix.  Farther south I saw Buffleheads and Hoode 
Mergansers (male and female of both species).

Afterward I went to the dam.  There was a pair of Hooded Mergansers and 
numerous Mallards on the spillway pond.  Above the dam just off the 
eastern shore were two pairs of Buffleheads.  
I walked along the western shore just above the dam and saw two great blue 
herons fishing.  A kingfisher flew by close to the surface of the water.  
I've never seen a kingfisher on that part of the lake so I'm thinking he 
was forced south because his territory is frozen over.  Of couse there 
were the usual ring billed gulls flying overhead and perched on the light 
posts.
Below the dam on the west side of the creek near the top of the hill is a 
bald tree that is used as a roost by a couple of black vultures.  I have 
observed them there the past two or three weeks.  The tree they use for a 
roost was used as a roost by turkey vultures over the summer.  

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