Arthur Shantz joined me today at the preserve as I worked on several of my winter projects, the Ohio Winter Bird Atlas and the ODNR Eagle Census. Today we located 4 adult and 1 immature Bald Eagle within the preserve. Their locations included Baldridge Island off Sunbury Road and the Oxbow Island area. Waterfowl was slow at first with only Canada Geese, Mallards, Hooded Mergansers, a couple of Horned Grebes and a Pied-billed Grebe. Late in the afternoon we were at the end of Oxbow Road, the light was beginning to fail and we weren't able to ascertain colors very well and we were about to leave when in came flocks of waterfowl. My best estimate was between 600 and 1,000 ducks flying into the northern regions of Hoover Reservoir. Among the species I could identify from wing patterns were lots of Hooded Mergansers, American Black Ducks, Red-breasted Mergansers, Redheads, and Mallards. There appeared to be other species in the incoming flocks but we weren't able to make a clear identification in the failing light. I hope to get back there Thursday to identify what arrived today. We made a stop at Hoover Meadows where we located a Barred Owl in the pine grove, then headed to the back area. In and around the fields we located Swamp Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Song Sparrows and Eastern Bluebirds. A nice surprise was a Rough-legged Hawk that soared right by us. Charlie Bombaci Hoover Nature Preserve Delorme 58 C (2) & (3) ______________________________________________________________________ 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]