Following up Charlie Bombaci's report, plus searching for the Little Blue Heron, I spent the morning up at the north end of Hoover Reservoir.  As Charlie had pointed out, the mudflats here are fairly extensive, auguring a good shorebird season this year, though the windstorm last month blew down lots of snags.  Early migration is already in full swing, with lots of shorebirds, swallows, kingbirds, and Yellow Warblers.  I stopped at Oxbow Island, Wiese Rd, the boardwalk in Galena, the Eastside Yacht Club flats, and the Sunbury causeway (where the Little Blue was still lurking).  Notables included:

Mute Swan - at least 1 adult was hanging around Oxbow Island.
cormorants - perhaps 100 over the entire reservoir, all Double-crested
Great Blue Herons - I had 42 total in about 2 hours of flats patrol
Great Egret - 11 total, with 8 of them off the Galena boardwalk
Little Blue Heron - this white juvenile was still fishing along the flats north of the Sunbury causeway
Turkey Vultures - a flock of 45 was roosting in the trees west of the Sunbury causeway
Osprey - 8 birds, with 4 hanging around the boardwalk area
Kildeer - 120+ in 2 hours of mudflats walking
Semipalmated Plovers - 3 on mudflats near boardwalk
Greater Yellowlegs - 1 along edge of bay north of Yacht Club
Lesser Yellowlegs - 8 scattered over many locations on mudflats
Solitary Sandpiper - 3, with 2 of those at Yacht Club flats
Spotted Sandpiper - 8-9, showing their early migrant pattern
Pectoral Sandpiper - 25, mostly in small groups at several locations
Semipalmated Sandpipers - 12, in small #s at several locations, mostly off the boardwalk
Least Sandpipers - 10, nearly all on flats near the boardwalk
Caspian Terns - 25, with 22 of those resting on the gravel bar where Charlie had reported them
Red-headed Woodpeckers - single adults on flats-edge snags at both Wiese Rd and the boardwalk
Cliff Swallows - 40-50, with some still feeding nestlings at the Galena bridge.
Tree Swallows - 2 at Sunbury causeway
Bank Swallows - 1-2 along flats off Wiese Rd
Barn Swallows - 30+, mostly flitting around grassy flats north of yacht club
Purple Martin - a roost of 25+ in a tree south of the boardwalk
Brown Thrashers - 2-3 along Wiese Rd didn't breed there, but may have wandered from nearby territories.
Eastern Kingbirds - 8-10 over the course of the morning, mostly in trees along the edge of the mudlfats
Yellow warblers - 5-6 birds at different locations, including 2 juveniles at the end of Oxbow Island
Indigo Buntings - surprisingly common, with singers at many locations next to mudflats
Baltimore Oriole - 1 male on Oxbow Island early, then flew off to south

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