I made a quick run-through of several sites along Hoover Reservoir this morning - the dam, Walnut St. boat launch, Maxtown launch, Area O, and Oxbow Island - and had a fair movement of waterbirds. The cold weather also seems to have stirred the few remaining landbird migrants as well. Notables included:
Dabbling Ducks - no big numbers, but decent diversity with Mallards, Black Ducks, Shovelers, Green-winged Teal, and American Wigeon at several locations
Diving Ducks - small flocks of Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked Ducks at several locations, but the prize were 2 early Common Goldeneye females in the dam spillway.
Ruddy Ducks - good day for these little stifftails, with 200+ in 4 flocks all along the reservoir
Hooded Mergansers - small flocks at the dam and Maxtown were just a warm-up for the 300+ bird flock feeding off the end of Oxbow Island
Other Waterbirds - 2 Pied-billed Grebes were in the southern end of the reservoir, while 2 Horned grebes were off Oxbow Island. 1 Cormorant was toughing it out off Oxbow Island, but, strangely, there were no Loons.
Gulls - good movement of Bonaparte's Gulls, with 250+ scattered over the entire reservoir. Ring-bills were a little less numerous, while I could only find 2 Herring.
Kinglets, Warblers - 1 Ruby-crowned and 5-6 Golden-crowned were in the forest below the dam, while Yellow-rumped warblers were at many stops.
Sparrows - lots of White-throated Sparrows at many locations, while Juncos and Song Sparrows were rather scarce. Single Tree Sparrows were at only 2 locations.
Blackbirds - Starlings at many locations, but the only other blackbirds were 2 redwings flying south over Oxbow Island.
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