I had a couple of hours this afternoon to scope out the Deer Creek Reservoir (Pickaway and Fayette Counties). 

The previously reported NORTHERN SHRIKE is still present west of the entrance road to the beach in the southern part of the state park and most likely will remain all winter.

Variety was low with the ducks, but numbers were high of the species present. ~450 Hooded Mergansers is probably the highest number of them I ever have seen there or anywhere. The only other diving ducks there today were ~20 Red-breasted Mergansers and a few Ruddy Ducks. Mallards, American Black Ducks, and Green-winged Teal were also numerous.

I counted ~70 Common Loons (no Red-neckeds seen) with a similar number of Horned Grebes also present. Perhaps half that many Pied-billed Grebes and a single RED-NECKED GREBE were also noted.

Gull numbers were way down from a couple of weeks ago with only ~200 each of Bonaparte's and Ring-billeds seen. Killdeer numbers are also down from a couple of weeks ago with less than 50 still present. No other shorebirds were seen today.

I didn't check out the wetlands today, but judging from the number of hunters in the area, it probably wouldn't have been too productive.

Bob Royse


Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com


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