Today Jim Fry and I managed to get loose for an afternoon of birding. We
began at the Alum Creek Park south in Westerville (Franklin County) with  the
ultra cooperative Eastern Screech Owl. Next we headed over to Hoover
Reservoir (Franklin & Delaware Counties) and much to our surprise it  was
practically void of activity. Near the dam we spotted lone Pied-billed Grebe  and
American Coot with the only other activity being Mallards and Canada Geese.
We stopped at multiple locations along the west shore that usually produce
waterfowl but zilch. The writing was on the wall so we turned north and made
a  run through Killdeer Plains and Big Island Wildlife Areas.

Killdeer Plains (Wyandot County) was unusually quiet with hardly any
smaller birds moving about. The lone exception being American Trees Sparrows.
Not a single Horned Lark to be seen. We did find waterfowl at Pond 27. There
we  saw many Tundra Swans, Gadwall, Northern Pintail, American Coot and a
couple of  American Black Ducks along with the expected Mallards and Canada
Geese.  Along Washburn Road there were two Trumpeter Swans and a disgusted
looking Great  Blue Heron. We made a circuit of the roads and managed a single
Rough-legged  Hawk and a couple of Northern Harriers and Bald Eagles.

Our last stop was at Big Island Wildlife Area (Marion County). There were
multitudes of Canada Geese and Mallards. The light was beginning to fail so
ID  of some further off ducks wasn't attempted. There was a small group of
Tundra Swans and several Northern Harriers were working the fields. Off
Prospect-La Rue Road we located 4 Bald eagles including a pair copulating. Our
final check was along SR 95 where Short-eared Owls were beginning to take
flight. We had one circle the car and put on a dandy aerial show for us.

Charlie Bombaci

______________________________________________________________________

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]