My wife and I spent 2 hours at Killdeer Plains wildlife area south of Upper
Sandusky yesterday, Feb 28, from 1:30-3:30pm on the way home from Michigan.
There were lots of waterfowl there and the water in the ponds was unfrozen.
The west side of the large pond 27 on CH-68 contained a large number of
pintail and mallard, plus a few wigeon. In a field directly across the
street to the south, a large flock of Canada geese were grazing. Among the
Canadas were 8-10 white-fronted geese and three snow geese (one white phase
and two dark phase). At the same location, we saw a dark-phase rough-legged
hawk, an immature bald eagle, and several harriers. Throughout the refuge,
harriers were abundant and easily seen flying low over the fields and
perched on the ground. We saw 12-15 harriers while we were there.
Additional raptors seen were three more bald eagles (2 immature, 1 adult),
three kestrels, and two red-tailed hawks. The small pond across from the
headquarters building had three bufflehead and three hooded mergansers. The
large pond at the corner of CH-71 and TH-108 had a large selection of
waterfowl, including 40-50 tundra swans. There were lots of mallards and
Canada geese and smaller numbers of redhead, ring-necks, black ducks and a
few more hooded mergansers. Across the street to the west, we saw two
eastern meadowlarks perched on a snag. We searched for the short-eared
owls, but did not see any. I suspect they would have come out if we had
stayed later in the day, but we needed to head for home.
Killdeer is well worth visiting now. Randy Rowe, Wooster OH
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