The days right before freeze-up are usually very good times to find waterbirds.  With that thought in mind, I headed out to some relatively nearby lakes in Mahoning Co. and Trumbull Co. yesterday 1/11.  First, I checked not a lake, but the moving waters of the Mahoning River from Struthers to Lowellville.  This is the best place to look for waterfowl locally once lakes and ponds are all frozen.  The water has been running high and murky lately though, so it's not so inviting to ducks at the moment.  The only birds of interest were 3 hooded mergansers, great blue heron, red-shouldered hawk, red-tailed hawk, e. bluebird, and n. mockingbird.  From there I went to Evans L.  When I got there, I was a little surprised to see the lake was ~97% iced over.  Back on 1/7 there was almost no ice there, now just a few open spots remained.  Many geese and gulls were standing around on the ice, while the open holes were packed with ducks et al.  Highlights
 were: 750 Canada geese (couldn't find any other geese with them though), 20 gadwalls, 7 Am. black ducks, 115 mallards, 6 redheads, 3 ring-necked ducks, 2 lesser scaup, 3 buffleheads, 2 c. goldeneyes, 10 hooded mergansers, 9 ruddy ducks, 9 pied-billed grebes, 30 Am. coots, 375 ring-billed gulls, and 10 herring gulls.  I didn't go to nearby Pine L., as it was already almost completely iced over on 1/7.  Next I visited Arrowhead L., which is near Columbiana but still barely in Mahoning Co.  Unfortunately, it was all frozen too - rats!  From there, I booked it up to Mosquito L. in Trumbull Co.  At Mosquito, my heart sank a little when I saw it was 99% iced over.  There was only one open water hole at the State Park (SW end), and a few off the causeway.  Best birds at the lake and adjacent Wildlife Area were: 22 Am. black ducks, 2 n. shovelers, 3 c. goldeneyes, 35 common mergansers, 3 bald eagles, red-shouldered hawk, a pair of red-tailed hawks, Am.
 coot, and 3 n. flickers.  I looked for the n. shrike along N. Park Ave. for about a half hour, but didn't see it.  I headed for home at that point, going east on State Rte. 87 towards Kinsman.  I then lucked into my favorite sighting on the day - a flock of 25 tundra swans in a cornstubble field in Gustavus Twp.  While I was watching them, another 6 tundra swans flew in from the north and joined them, bringing the total to 31 birds.  About then, the rains started in earnest, so I motored home.  Craig Holt, Lowellville

______________________________________________________________________

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]