The Columbus Audubon trip to these 2 reservoirs north of Columbus found a partly cloudy day with fairly good migrant activity for passerines, but little or no activity for raptors or shorebirds. Both New Galena and Oxbow Island had good flocks of fallout migrants, mostly warblers, kinglets, vireos, and waxwings. Water levels at both reservoirs are low, with Hoover being extreme in this condition; expansive mudflats in upper Hoover extend all the way down to Plumb Rd access.  We stopped at New Galena launch and the Visitor's Center + beach at Alum, then went over to Oxbow Island and WieseRd-PlumbRd at Hoover.  Warning: the Plumb Rd access is now signed No Parking, so birders to it may want to park up at Wiese and make the hike down. Highlights for 6+ hours of birding included:

Geese - the upper flats at Hoover had 600+ Canada Geese, but we couldn't find the earlier-reported Snow

Ducks - along with scattered Mallards, the upper bay also produced 10 Green-winged Teal and 5 N.Pintail (my FOS)

Other Waterbirds - cormorants were numerous, with 200+ off the Hoover mudflats, and flyover flocks elsewhere

Herons,Egrets - Upper Hoover had 24 Great Blues and 18 Great Egrets, while Oxbow Island had 12 & 4, respectively

Shorebirds - nothing but Kildeer, with perhaps 10 at Alum Lake beach, and 15-20 around the Hoover mudflats

Larids - 400+ gulls at Alum Lake beach, all Ring-bills except 1 Herring.  The Hoover mudflats had 140+ Ring-bills + 2 Herring

Vultures - 2 Black Vultures were with a small flock of TVs at Alum Creek Dam; upper Hoover had only TVs

Raptors - hardly any at these 2 locations; 1 Red-tail was off the Hoover mudflats.

Woodpeckers - no Red-headed at Oxbow or Wiese, but did have Sapsuckers at New Galena and the Visitors Center(2) at Alum.

Flycatchers - Phoebes at many places, 1 Wood Pewee at New Galena

Swallows,Swifts - 10+ flyover Tree Swallows at New Galena early, along with 6-8 Chimney Swifts

BlueJays - modest movement of 50+ in 1 hour at New Galena; 10-20 each at Visitor's Center and Oxbow Island

Vireos - good morning for Yellow-throated, with birds at New Galena, Alum Visitor's Center (2), and Oxbow.  We had Blue-headeds at Alum Visitor's Center and Oxbow, and a single Philadelphia at Oxbow.

Red-br.Nuthatches - 4 were at New Galena, but didn't see any at the other locations

Wrens - House Wrens were at the Visitor's Center fields and at Oxbow Island; a Winter was at Plumb Rd access at Hoover

Kinglets - 4-5 Ruby-crowns were in the mixed flocks at Oxbow; while 3-4 Golden-cr. were at New Galena and Visitor's Center.

Thrushes - lots of Robins, but slim pickings for other thrushes, with only a few Swainson's at both Alum sites

Mimids - small #s of Catbirds (2-4) at every stop; Mockingbirds only at Visitor's Center fields (2-3).   No Thrashers.

Cedar Waxwings - small #s at the Alum Sites; more at Hoover, with 70-80 around the tip of Oxbow Island.

Warblers - good #s, modest diversity, included 12 species: Nashvilles (3), Tennessees (12+ across all sites), Orange-crowned (1 in willow fringe around Wiese Rd mudflats), Parulas (6 across all sites), Magnolias (8), Black-thr.Greens (10+), Black-thr.Blue (male at Visitor's Center), CapeMays (6), Blackpolls (4), Chesnut-sided, Yellow-rumpeds (20, mostly at Oxbow), Ovenbird.  No Redstarts or Palms was unusual.

Buntings,Grosbeaks - 1 Rose-br.Grosbeak at the Alum Visitor's Center area

Sparrows - a few recently-arrived White-throated were at all sites.  We heard a Lincoln's near the Alum Visitor's Center, while Oxbow had an early Junco

Blackbirds - no flocks at all, not even early at New Galena or along the Alum Creek corridor.

Finches - Goldfinches at all sites, but little else.

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