I had the first free day in longer than I can remember today and took advantage of the nice weather to do some poking around.

I started off by checking out the Deer Creek Reservoir this morning. Nothing really unexpected was found. While overall numbers were good, variety wasn't. Bonaparte's and Ring-billed Gulls were both present in quadruple digits with maybe 20 Herring Gulls. I didn't see any unusual gulls today, but I could have easily overlooked them. Lingering shorebirds included ~25 Killdeers, 1 Greater Yellowlegs and 3 Dunlins. ~10 Pied-billed Grebes and a single Horned Grebe were seen and ducks were limited to ~150 Hooded Mergansers and 9 Ruddy Ducks. At least 2 adult Bald Eagles were in the area as well.

The next stop was the Greenlawn Cemetery. Highlights were about a dozen White-winged Crossbills in the ridge area. I didn't realize how many were actually present until they took off from the top of a spruce. I couldn't relocate them. Easier to view were ~15 Pine Siskins feeding in the sweet gums with Am. Goldfinches south of the pit. Red-breasted Nuthatches were seen all over the place, pretty much wherever I stopped to look.  They should have a big tally on next weekend's CBC.

I ended the day with some scouting for the CBC closer to home along the Scioto, finding mostly expected birds. The Watermark Quarry still hosts a large raft of Ring-necked Ducks and American Coots. Despite thousands of Bonaparte's Gulls still being present at Deer Creek, I didn't see a single one along the Scioto although there are good numbers of Ring-billeds around. The day ended with an adult Bald Eagle catching fish in my backyard stretch of the Scioto south of 5th Ave. Hopefully I can relocate it on CBC day.

Bob Royse



Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com


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