This afternoon Rick Asamoto, Shane Egleston, John Beatty and I went
birding at Buck Creek SP. The weather was cold, rainy, and windy. The
birding was fantastic. The highlights were the Red-throated Loon, Surf
Scoter, Red-necked Grebe and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

The Red-throated Loon, Red-necked Grebe and Surf Scoter were all best
seen from the trail along the reservoir below the visitor center. The
Surf Scoter was the beautiful male that Jay Lehman described earlier in
the week. We were less than 50 feet away from it and the skies had
actually lightened up a little at this point to give us the best looks
any of us have ever had of Surf Scoter in breeding plumage. It was
actually back in a little sheltered cove heading out toward the
reservoir when Shane located it.

The Red-necked Grebe was straight out in the reservoir from the cove
about 250-300 feet. It was resting most of the time making it difficult
to ID. It raised its head frequently enough though that we got good
looks for a positive ID. The Red-throated Loon was on the reservoir
farther north of the cove. On the beach we observed a first-cycle Lesser
Black-backed Gull. At the complete opposite end of the lake, at the
mudflats off of Grant Rd, we found an adult breeding plumaged Lesser
Black-backed Gull.

Other birds seen at Buck Creek SP and Reid Park were:
Canada Goose
Blue-winged Teal
American Wigeon
Lesser Scaup
Northern Shoveler (2 males and 1 female)
Bufflehead
Gadwall
Mallard
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Coots
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
DC Cormorant
Killdeer
Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs
Herring and Ring-billed Gulls
Tree Swallow
E Meadowlark
E Towhee (1 female)
WB Nuthatch
Cardinal
Starling
Flicker
Downy Woodpecker
Song Sparrow
Turkey Vulture
C Chickadee
Robin

John Habig
261 Lantis Dr.
Carlisle, Ohio 45005
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