I checked through several accesses at Alum Lake, then motored over to the Wiese & Plumb accesses of upper Hoover Reservoir.  Water levels in both reservoirs are startlingly low, but only Hoover had significant waders & shorebirds.  Both had a good number of end-of-season migrants.  Highlights included:

Cormorants - 2 were in lower Alum, while the shallows of north Hoover sported 3 more

Herons - 18 Great Blues were feeding along the shallow parts of upper Hoover

Waterfowl - 4 Lesser Scaup were off SummerRidge access at Alum, while Plumb Rd had 10 Green-wing Teal and 60 Hooded Mergansers in the shallows of northern Hoover

Loons - 2 were off SummerRidge accesss at Alum, one of the deepest parts of Alum Lake

Shorebirds - little at Alum, but the northern mudflats of Hoover still had a decent shorebird selection, including 4 Black-bellied Plovers, 75 Kildeer, 20 Dunlin, and 5 Least Sandpipers.  There may have been more, but the flats were enormous and the sun angle bad on some parts.

Gulls - small flocks of Ring-bills and Bonies on Alum, while the Hoover mudflats had 180+ of the former and 120+ of the latter.

Wrens,Kinglets - lots of Carolina Wrens, but no Winters or Houses.  Kinglets are also on the wane, with only 3-4 Golden-crowns and no Ruby-crowns in 3 hours of looking.

Larks,Pipits - still moving, with 1-3 of each overflying every stop.  The mudflats at north Hoover probably held quite a few, but I only heard 3 there.

Thrushes,Waxwings - early flight of Robins over New Galena on Alum had 60 birds/1 hour, numbers were insignificant elsewhere.  Bluebirds were also on the move, with 8 in the same hour at New Galena, and 2-4 at each of the other stops. Small flocks of waxwings were flying south at every stop, perhaps totaling 30 on the morning.

Warblers - only Yellow-rumps, with the highest numbers being 8 at New Galena.

Sparrows - good diversity, but no large flocks.  Fox Sparrows were the stars, with 5 at New Galena and another 1 at Wiese Rd.  A late Lincoln's at Wiese Access and a flyover Lapland Longspur at New Galena were also noteworthy.

Blackbirds - small flocks of Redwings flying south over New Galena were the only ones noted.  Where are the grackles?

Finches - Purple Finches were flyovers at New Galena (2) and SummerRidge (1), while Pine Siskins were at New Galena (1) and Wiese Rd (1).  Small flocks of Goldfinches were everywhere.

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