This was posted at 6:23 pm on January 10.

Deer Creek State Park – The open water off the beach continues to have a Long-tailed Duck along with hundreds of Mallards, 1 Northern Pintail, Canvasbacks, Ruddy Ducks, 1 Hooded merganser,  Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes, 1 Bufflehead, Black Ducks.  An immature Bald Eagle was sitting on the ice.

The Gravel Quarry on Island Road just west of Circleville continues to amaze.  I checked both morning and afternoon.  Morning waterfowl included:  the White-winged Scoter, Redheads, Canvasbacks, Ring-necked Ducks, Ruddy ducks, Mallards, Black Ducks, Gadwall, a few Canada geese, Tundra Swans (I think) flew over, Pied-billed Grebe, Coots and Bald Eagle.  From 4:15 to 5:15 pm saw: all of the above except the Bald Eagle plus hundreds of Canadas instead of a few.  Additionally, I saw 1 Cackling Goose about the size of a mallard with its stubby bill and neck, 3 Greater White-fronted Geese, and 5 Trumpeter Swans.  Three of them were immatures.  None of them had neck bands.  I don’t want to stir up the controversy of counting them on a life list but if anyone would like to see them in south-central Ohio, come on down!  I got a great study of the differences between Trumpeters and Tundras as they swam near each other.  The Trumpeters were obviously bigger.  Their bills seemed more massive compared to their faces.  They had the straight Roman nose and the V shape between bill and head.  Conversely, on the Tundra Swans I could see the yellow tear-drops on most of them.  Their bills were daintier with a slightly upturned nose.  The head-on view of the Tundras showed the straight line bill between the eyes.  All together, a great day!

Can anyone explain why my post of Jan 8 at 10:41 pm did not reach my in-box until Jan 10 at 9:57 am?  Hence the time and date above.

Melanie Shuter
Circleville, OH
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