I looked for open water along the Scioto River in Columbus, starting at Berliner Park & the Greenlawn Dam and working upstream to Griggs dam.  Sizeable open water stretches were at Berliner, Long St. Dam, Marble Cliff, and below Griggs dam.  All held some waterfowl & gulls, but the interesting waterfowl were mostly at the upper end, around Marble Cliff & Griggs.  Oddly enough, I could find no cormorants or grebes, which have been consistent winter birds along this stretch of the river.  Notables included:

Canada Geese - flocks everywhere, with the largest some 600 along the river below Griggs Dam.  No Cackling that I could find
Mallards - small groups everywhere, again with the largest # (500+) below Griggs
BlackDucks - small #s at Marble Cliff & below Griggs
Canvasbacks - a pair at Long St, Dam were upstaged by 10 at Marble Cliff and another 4 at Griggs
Redheads - sizeable flocks at Marble Cliff (60+) and Griggs (40+)
Lesser Scaup - only 3, with the mixed flock at Marble Cliff
Ring-necked Ducks - 120 along the river at Marble Cliff, plus another 25 at Griggs
Bufflehead - the only 4 were in the river quite a way below Griggs dam
CommonGoldeneye - 3 at Long St., 8 at Marble Cliff, and another 7 below Griggs
CommonMergansers - 6 were with the throng at MarbleCLiff, and another 8 were in river below Griggs Dam
HoodedMergansers - small groups at all locations, topped by 20+ at Berliner and 25+ at Marble Cliff
GreatBlueHerons - 9 were in a sunny protected spot at Berliner, while 3 more were at Marble Cliff
Gulls - flocks of Ring-bills at many locations, led by 120+ at both Scioto Audubon and along the downtown Scioto

Landbirds were scarce in the bitter cold, but did include among the expected flock birds a Sharp-shinned Hawk at Long St. Dam, BrownCreepers at many locations, White-throated Sparrow flocks at Berliner and Scioto Audubon, and Tree Sparrows in Berliner Park (at the field along the south bikepath)

______________________________________________________________________

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]