I used the morning to survey areas along Alum Creek, from Sharon Woods MetroPark north through Heritage Park up to Alum Creek Lake. Stops at Alum Creek Lake included the dam, New Galena, SummerRidge, and Cheshire accesses. The recent cold weather appears to have frozen migration in a mid-March appearance, with lots of waterfowl and sparrows.  While waterfowl diversity was good, I didn't find any huge numbers of divers or loons as others have found at lakes north and west of this area.  Notables today included:

Dabblers - small #s of Mallards, along with the occasional teal and wigeon

Divers - still modest flocks of Lesser Scaup at several spots on Alum Creek Lake.  1 pair apiece of Bufflehead and Common Goldeneye were lingering at SummerRidge access at Alum Creek Lake.

Mergansers - had 6-8 pairs of Red-breasted Mergansers at Alum Creek Lake

Other Waterfowl - 3 Common Loons were in the southern part of Alum Creek Lake, while 12+ cormorants were above the Cheshire causeway.  Shrock Lake in Sharon Woods had 3 Pied-billed Grebes.

Raptors - small #s of Turkey Vultures drifting north at most stops.  The only hawk of note was a Red-shouldered flying north along the shore at SummerRidge access

Gulls - surprisingly scarce, with only a handful of Ring-billed and Bonapartes along all of the Alum Creek Lake stops

Field Sparrows - singles at several stops along Alum creek Lake, including New Galena, SummerRidge, and Cheshire.

Fox Sparrows - seen at every stop, often 2-3.  Sharon Woods led the way, with 5 along the Thomas trail, but several stops at Alum Creek Lake had 2-3.

Pine Siskins - 3-4 still lingered in the alders around Shrock Lake, a traditional location for them.  Unfortunately, it looks as if the MetroParks are removing much if not all of this invasive plant from this location.

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]