I spent the morning ogling the vast mudflats and gravel bars in the northern reaches of Hoover Reservoir, looking for shorebirds, gulls, and anything else attracted by this vast expanse of sand & mud.  The area up by the boardwalk is still mostly mud down to the leve of Pelican Island (which is little more than a gravel ridge along the shore right now), while the areas around Oxbow Island and the Sunbury causeway have enormous winding sandbars.  The moderate temperatures seem to have allowed a shorebird and gull surge, but have not pushed many waterfiwl into the area.  Notables included:

Great Blue Herons - only 1, which stands in stark contrast to the 20-30 that had been present here through the 11th. They've clearly 'left the house', perhaps to join the wintering flocks down along the Scioto and Ohio Rivers

Cormorant - 5 continue to fish and dry-off around the sandbars north of the Sunbury causeway

Tundra Swan - a single bird continues to hang out in the bay between the mudflats and Oxbow Island

Canada Geese - a large flock of 450-500 birds continues to commute into the mudflats in the mid-morning from some point north of the reservoir.

Hooded Merganser - a large flock of 150+ birds was feeding and cavorting south of the mudflats

Other waterfowl - very few, with 10 Green-winged teal around the mudflats and 3 Ruddy Ducks off Oxbow Island.

Shorebirds - still a good mix on the flats, including 140 Kildeer, 2 Greater yellowlegs, 2 Least Sandpipers, 30 Dunlin, and 2 SANDERLINGS.

Gulls - a good movement, with totals of 700 Ring-bills and 500 Bonaparte's in the upper Reservoir.  At one time, I watched a continuous line of gulls fly into the mudflat basin from the north, with over 600 birds straggling through in 20 minutes.  Only 1 juvie Herring Gull was mixed in with this mass.

E.Bluebirds - 8+ were scattered along the shoreline from Plumb to Wiese accesses, and another 2 were on Oxbow Island, so they appeared to be attracted to the expanses of mud and shrubs.

Larks,Pipits - 8+ Horned Larks and 3+ American Pipits were scattered around the mudflats, and there likely were more, as I only noticed these when they flew.

Sparrows - a Fox Sparrow was lurking along the trail at Mudhen Marsh, but little of note beyond small flocks of White-throats and Juncos at most accesses

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]