The Ohio River was rocking this morning with some sweet waterfowl action.  Most
of the birds were just south of Pike Island Lock and Dam located on the
Jefferson/Belmont County line.  Pike Island Dam is in the town of Yorkville.
Above the dam is often good for waterfowl, but the river was 80-90% frozen
for several hundred yards.  The below dam area is the place to find ducks
right now.  This area hosted the following:

Canvasback

Redhead

Common Goldeneye - 30+

Lesser Scaup - 30+

Greater Scaup

Common Merganser - female

Bufflehead

LONG-TAILED DUCK - 1
WHITE-WINGED SCOTER - 17!


North of Yorkville are the quaint Ohio Valley towns of Tiltonsville and
Rayland.  There are few opportunities to view the river from Tiltonsville.
Rayland, however, is home to the Rayland Marina which lies at the mouth of
Short Creek.  The marina is on the north side of Short Creek and a golf
course runs along the south.  This confluence of creek, river, and golf
course is a Canada Goose heaven.  It was here in November of 2012 that
Scott Pendleton, George Benish, and I found a Brant mixed in among the
Canada's.  Today this area was bathed in sunlight and through the steam the
following species were seen:

Mallard

American Black Duck

Ring-necked Duck

Canvasback

Common Goldeneye

Lesser Scaup

Common Merganser - males

Bufflehead
And of course...Canada Geese

Turning right out of the marina takes you on "Old Route 7" which runs along
the river for several miles until it turns up a narrow "holler" and then up
a steep hill (on this hill, by the way, was the childhood home of Bill
Mazeroski who hit the World Series winning home run for the Pittsburgh
Pirates in 1960.)  Old Route 7 is a quiet road with little traffic.  Nearly
every spot that I stopped held waterfowl including a pair of Hooded
Mergansers and the 18th White-winged Scoter of the morning.  Another piece
of history along this road...this time of the avian variety...is the Osprey
nest on the large powerline tower that holds the lines which cross the
river.  This nest has been active almost every year since the mid 1990's.  It
has to be one of the earliest known nesting sites for Ospreys in our state.

The Ohio River hasn't been this active with waterfowl since the winter of
1993/94.  When the inland waters freeze, the river comes alive.  If you're
an Ohio Valley birder, now is the time to enjoy waterfowl along the
river.  It's
been 20 years since it was this good.  I didn't have a scope this morning,
so all of these birds were easily seen with binoculars (although it's
always good to have a scope.)  The birds are all on the Ohio side and
undoubtedly using the actual bank of the river for feeding and sleeping.  Ohio
doesn't own very far out into the river, so most of the waterfowl in the
river is technically in WV.  But much of what I saw today was mere feet
from our bank, which made for point blank binocular views.

Scott Albaugh

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