I made a few stops along the shore of Hoover Reservoir (NE of Columbus) yesterday afternoon, trying to stay in protected areas & avoid frostbite.  Much of the upper reservoir remains open, but the ice has started to seal off the shallower areas.  I started at Oxbow Island, then stopped at Sunbury causeway, Maxtown boat launch, Walnut St. boat launch, and the marina above the dam.  The lower reservoir was largely devoid of waterfowl except for a few small groups of Hooded Mergansers.  Oxbow Island was a different story, with rafts of divers off the eastern tip of the island, including

Ring-necked Ducks - 10
Lesser Scaup - 100
Redhead - 20
Canvasback - 3
Surf Scoter - 1 juvenile male
Bufflehead - 8
Ruddy Duck - 300+
Hooded Merganser - 150+

Other waterbirds of interest included Common Loons at Oxbow and off Walnut St. ramp, 3 cormorants sitting on a gravel bar off Maxtown launch area, as well as a flock of 60 Coots in one of the bays south of Oxbow Island

Landbirds were laying low in the bitter wind, but there was a very late Tree Swallow trying to glean insects from the water in a protected cove at Maxtown launch.

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.


You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]