The Columbus Audubon trip to these two lakes north of Columbus found cold, blustery weather, but some interesting birds.  We started at the Alum Creek Lake beach (sorry, no Franklin's Gulls), then moved over to New Galena boat launch area, before going east to the Plumb-Wiese Rds bikepath at Hoover.  I later stopped at Hoover dam on my way home.  Note that all of these areas were somewhat wind-protected; we avoided more exposed sites like Oxbow Island and the Galena Boardwalk.  Highlights included:

Dabbling Ducks - Hoover had small flocks of N.Shovelers & Blue-winged Teal (Wiese Rd) and Green-winged Teal (dam)
Pied-billed Grebes - definitely on the move, with small flocks above both dams: 10 at Alum, 11 at Hoover
Cormorants - good #s at virtually every stop except New Galena
Great Egrets - 4 were still around the mudflats of Upper Hoover
Vultures - small numbers of TUVU everywhere, but Hoover dam had a flock of 60 along with 1 BLVU
Osprey - single birds were along Alum Creek and off the Alum Creek Lake dam
Bald Eagle - an adult bird was soaring over the mudflats of the north end of Hoover
Gulls - no Franklin's at the Alum Lake beach, but there were 5-6 Bonapartes with the Ring-bills
Terns - the Alum Creek Lake beach also had 1 Common and 2 Forster's mixed in with the gull flock
Flycatchers - only 1, an E. Phoebe along the Plumb-Wiese Bikepath
Swallows - a flock of 60+ Tree Swallows was foraging over the upper bay of Hoover, while small numbers of Rough-winged were flying around the Alum Lake beach (1) and Hoover Dam (2).
Blue Jays - no big movement, but there were good numbers (15-20) at each site visited
Kinglets - only had single Ruby-crowns, at the Alum Lake Visitor's Center fields and at Hoover Dam
Hermit Thrushes - 2 were feeding in a grapevine tangle in the woods north of the Alum Lake Visitor's Center
Cedar Waxwings - small flocks were at nearly every stop, rarely more than 12-15.
Warblers - mostly Yellow-rumps and Black-thr.Greens, but also found Tennessee, Nashville, Palms, and Wilson's
Sparrows - small flocks of Field and Chipping around Alum Creek Lake Visitor's Center, along with 1 Swamp Sparrow heard.

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