Howdy All, After a late start due to the snow, I headed north for some birding, as stormy, snowy days are often good birding days. I first went to the Melvin Quarry to look for waterfowl. The quarry is west of Rt 22 northeast of Wilmington. I usually go north on I71 to exit 58, SR 72 and go east to Rt 22. A right turn at Rt 22 and a few miles and another right turn in Melvin gets me to the quarry. On the way north on I71, just beyond mile marker 40 in a water filled borrow pit, I found 2 MUTE SWANS, the first new bird for the year for Sunday. The Melvin Quarry can be a good spot for waterfowl in January, but it was not so yesterday. I found 6 Canada Geese, 1 American Coot, 30 Ring-billed Gulls, one American Robin, one Eastern Bluebird and a flock of Rock Pigeons. Not a very promising start for a snowy Sunday. I was at the quarry at about noon or shortly thereafter. After a short visit to the Melvin Quarry, I headed west on Melvin Road, the road that the quarry is on, and continued west past Prairie Road to Starbuck Road. This can be found in Delorme page 76 and continuing on page 66. According to MapQuest, Melvin Road turns into Gleason Road TH 217 at the intersection with Prairie Rd. I usually drive the roads in this area in the winter to look for flocks of Horned Larks and any other similar open country birds. Along Melvin Road, I found a small flock of Horned Larks (about 10) concentrated along the road edge and several small flocks of Mourning Doves (about 30 total) and a few European Starlings. With the snow cover, the road edge provided some relatively open ground and vegetation for feeding. I turned right on Starbuck Road, and slowly drove this road. I found several relatively large flocks of Horned Larks also concentrated at the road edge. I found two large flocks of Horned Larks on Starbuck with LAPLAND LONGSPURS mixed in. One was along the road edge and the second was on the right hand side on a field entry pull in location. I counted seven Lapland Longspurs in each of these two flocks. Starbuck Road crosses I71 at the bridge just before the Rt 72 exit (going north). Just before the bridge I turned right on Gallimore Road and drove this road slowly to Rt 72. Gallimore Road briefly joins with Sullivan Road, TH 183, but turn left when Gallimore meets Sulivan to continue on Gallimore Road. On Gallimore beyond the intersection with Sullivan, I found another large flock of Horned Larks, again with seven Lapland Longspurs. These are probably low counts of Lapland Longspurs in these areas, but the birds were nervous and didn't stay on the road edge very long so my counts are not completely accurate. I estimate that I had about 130 Horned Larks in the flocks in this area, and 21 Lapland Longspurs. I suspect that this area could also produce American Pipts, but i did not hear any yesterday. A word of caution about this area, Starbuck and Gallimore are narrow county roads, and there are few, if any, places to pull off. I drove slowly, and stopped on the road. Only two vehicles passed me, one going the opposite direction and one going the same direction. However, traffic was light, as this was on Sunday on a snowy day, when the roads were not completely cleared in spots. I expect that there will be more traffic during the week. Gallimore Road is the first right hand turn on Rt 72 going east from I71. I stopped by Caesar Creek SP at the beach. The water level is very high, covering the beach and part of the grassy edge to the beach. There were 6 Killdeer along the edge of the water, and about 50 American Coots. I stopped at the boat ramp north of the beach, and found more American Coots, another Killdeer and two large flocks of gulls resting on the water. My best guesstimate is that there were about 300 gulls in these two flocks, all Ring-billed Gulls. I tried for Hermit Thrush in the woods along the edge of the boat ramp parking lot, but found only about 10 Dark-eyed Juncos, a few Carolina Chickadees and a Carolina Wren. As I was driving toward the exit on the road from the boat ramp, I found the sought HERMIT THRUSH feeding in the middle of the road. I arrived at Spring Valley WA at the parking area for the boardwalk at about 5:00 pm. When I entered the feeder station viewing blind at the parking lot, a large flock of birds flew away from the ground under the feeders. I sat quietly and waited. Slowly the birds returned. At the peak concentration of birds present, I had 5 FOX SPARROWS in view at one time, and perhaps one more to make 6! WOW! What a sight! That's the most Fox Sparrows I have ever seen together at one time in one place. Also present, were about 30 White-throated Sparrows, one immature White-crowned Sparrow, about 5 Song Sparrows, 20 Tree Sparrows and about 12 Northern Cardinals. Then I walked the trail to the board walk, which has a lot of damage to the railings, probably due to vandalism. I heard about 10 Swamp Sparrows chipping in the marsh. On my way back to the parking lot, a small flock of 3-4 Red-winged Blackbirds stopped in the treetop on the south side of the boardwalk, before flying down into the marsh, apparently to roost for the evening. Suddenly another larger flock appeared and landed in the top of one of the Sycamore Trees on the south side at the entry to the boardwalk. I found 8 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS in this flock. In the marsh and multiforal roses bushes just along the south edge of the path to the boardwalk near the entry end of the boardwalk, I heard the alarm note of a Brown Thrasher. It sounds like a softer version of the similar note made by a Northern Mockingbird and can be imitated by vigorously kissing the back of ones hand. However, the bird would not respond to my imitation, so I will delay counting this bird until I can get back there when it is earlier, and there is more light. It was about 6:00 pm when I arrived back at my car in the parking lot. I ended the day with 96 birds for January 2007 with a good possibility for 97, if confirmed. Jay Jay G. Lehman Cincinnati, OH [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]