This beautiful Fall morning was irresistable, so I spent several hours between these two reservoirs north of Columbus. The birds must've thought as highly of the day, because there was a modest pulse of late migrants. My stops included New Galena & the Visitor's Center/beach area at Alum Creek Lake, and Mudhen Marsh & the Sunbury causeway at Hoover. Notables included:
Waterfowl - a few small fly-by flocks of Mallards and Shovelers at New Galena signaled the start of serious migration, and the slough at Mudhen Marsh was chock-full, with 250 mallards, 10 Black, 4 Wood Ducks, and 4 Green-winged Teal
Divers - no Loons yet, but 2 Horned Grebes were off New Galena
Shorebirds - still a few stragglers at Alum, where the water draw-down (fed to Hoover through a pipeline!) has created expansive mudflats. Birds there included 16+ Kildeer, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, and 4 Dunlin
Raptors - surprisingly few, but the list did include an adult Bald eagle at Mudhen marsh and 2 lingering Turkey Vultures at the Sunbury causeway
Thrushes - Robins down, Bluebirds up. Migrating Robins were present, but in much smaller #s than last week, with only 50 in 1 hour at Alum. The slack was partially picked up by E.Bluebirds, which had 25 fly-overs at New Galena and another 4 at Mudhen.
Cedar Waxwings - still coming through, with 200+ at New Galena and small flocks at every other stop.
Sparrows - good diversity, with Tree (FOS), Field, Song, Swamp, Fox (3 at New Galena), White-crowned, White-throated, and Junco. Best was a Lapland Longspur on the beach at Alum.
Blackbirds - still AWOL, with an overflying flock of 20 Redwings at New Galena the only 'large' number
Finches - no siskins yet, but plenty of Goldfinches at several stops
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