I slogged through several areas around Alum Creek Lake and along the creek south of it.  The Lake is completely frozen over in the lower reaches, and only a few mallards & geese were hanging out in the very-open spillway below the dam. Deep snow and lack of cover has moved out a lot of smaller birds, but there were still some interesting birds.  Highlights included:

Canada Geese - even though they weren't on the reservoir, flocks of 150 and 300 were along the creek south in Westerville.  No Snow geese were found, however (and 1 was with these Canada flocks on the Hoover CBC 3 weeks ago).

Raptors - lots of Red-tails, with 6-8 scattered along the riparian fields from the dam south into Westerville. No Bald Eagles today, but they have been seen in the area recently.  Could this be a precursor to a local nest?

Screech Owl - the gray-phase bird found at the traditional tree hole along the Alum Creek bikepath was a no-show today (it was present during the CBC), but further south along the bikepath, a red-phase bird was roosting in the girders of the old bridge that spans the creek for the bikepath.  Look IN the top girder at the northwest corner.

woodpeckers - lots of Downies & Red-bellies at all stops.  Hairy woodpeckers were at either side of the Alum Creek Lake dam, and a sapsucker was still present at Heritage Park in Westerville.

mockingbird - 1 was calling from the scubby area southeast of the Visitor's Center at Alum Creek Lake.

starlings - large flocks at a number of locations, but the biggest flock was 1800 birds playing around at the edge of the dam spillway at ACL.

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