Linda  and I birded at Delaware Wildlife Area and Delaware Lake in Delaware
County  today. Although much of the water is still iced over, there is
plenty of open  water and everywhere there was open water there were very good
numbers of  waterfowl. The large puddles created by the recent rain were
filled with  activity from Canada geese and dabbling ducks to Killdeer. The
grassy fields to  the side of Leonardsburg Road and Panhandle Road also yielded
some nice finds  including male Northern Harriers, Ring-necked Pheasant and
a Merlin. The  Columbus Blue Jackets have new competition, immature Bald
Eagles. We watched a  small group of them using an unidentified cadaver as
their hockey puck. Either  that or they were trying to display bad table
manners. We began with  Leonardsburgh Road, entering from Horseshoe Road and
covering Area A. We next  hopped up US 23 to the Delaware State Park covering the
areas that extent to the  water. Next we continued north on US 23 to SR 229.
Going south on SR 229 we  checked, in order, Areas M, G, F, E, D, C and B.
Every area we visited seemed to  contribute a new species or two to our
tally. Assuming the Delaware Wildlife  Area lives up to its past history the
best is yet to come.
Charlie  Bombaci
SPECIES  LIST
Great  Blue Heron     1
Turkey  Vulture          30+
Snow  Goose             3
Canada  Goose
Wood  Duck               6
Gadwall                     8
American  Wigeon    21
American  Black Duck  45
Mallard                       200+
Northern  Shoveler   7
Northern  Pintail        211
Green-winged  Teal  17
Canvasback              42
Redhead                   100+
Ring-necked  Duck  300+
Lesser  Scaup           50+
Bufflehead                10
Common  Goldeneye          3
Hooded  Merganser              36
Red-breasted  Merganser    18
Ruddy  Duck              2
Bald  Eagle                6 (all immature)
Northern  Harrier       2 (males)
Cooper's  Hawk
Red-tailed  Hawk
American  Kestrel
MERLIN
Ring-necked  Pheasant
American  Coot
Killdeer          49
Ring-billed  Gull
Herring  Gull  3
Rock  Pigeon
Mourning  Dove
Red-bellied  Woodpecker
Downy  Woodpecker
Northern  Flicker
Blue  Jay
American  Crow
Horned  Lark
Carolina  Chickadee
Tufted  Titmouse
White-breasted  Nuthatch
Carolina  Wren
Eastern  Bluebird
American  Robin
Northern  Mockingbird
European  Starling
Yellow-rumped  Warbler
American  Tree Sparrow
Field  Sparrow
Song  Sparrow
Swamp  Sparrow
White-throated  Sparrow
Dark-eyed  Junco
Northern  Cardinal
Red-winged  Blackbird
Rusty  Blackbird
Common  Grackle
Brown-headed  Cowbird
House  Finch
American  Goldfinch
House  Sparrow

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