The Columbus Audubon trip here this morning found the lower reservoir starting to freeze over, with large ice shelves at many places along the shore up to Maxtown boat launch, with more ice than open water at points further north.  Best birding was in the lower reservoir, with large numbers of birds around the dam and between the County Line Bridge and Maxtown launch.  Highlights included:

Canada Geese - fairly large numbers at most stops, but no Cackling noted
Snow Goose - 1 immature bird was with a few Canadas across from the Maxtown launch area
Mallards - present at all stops, but not in large numbers
Black Ducks - few at most stops
Gadwall - a pair in the channel below Hoover dam.
Redhead - 8 in the dam spillway, plus another 15 just north of County Line Bridge
Canvasback - a sizeable flock of 35 was near the ice shelf edge just north of the Bridge.
Lesser Scaup - small numbers at several stops
Ring-necked Ducks - 8+ were in a small flock just north of the Bridge in Area E.
Common Goldeneye - flock of 20+ in the middle of the reservoir off Area E.
Red-br.Merganser - 25+ in the middle of the reservoir off Area E (just north of County Line Br.)
Hooded Merganser - small numbers at several stops
Bald Eagle - 1 subadult was in the trees at Area F (just south of Maxtown launch)
Gulls - 800+ Ring-bills scattered along the ice shelves in the lower reservoir.  We searched through them, but could only pull out 6-7 Herring.  No Bonapartes or rarer gulls could be found, although the bird status of this area seemed to be changing by the hour.

Landbirds were less impressive, with expected winter residents at several stops.  This is a great time to check Hoover and other local reservoirs for early migrant waterfowl.  The amount of open water on Hoover is very changeable now.  A quick survey on Thursday found most of the reservoir open, but that has changed quickly in the past few days.  The cold water appears to acquire an ice crust faster now than it does back in December.  A few more days of cold and most of the reservoir will be iced over.

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