January 19, 2007. A friend of mine called me about a column by the Toledo Blade's outdoor writer, Steve Pollick. He wrote how Tundra Swans have been gathering, daily, in a particular corn field at the intersection of Rt. 163 and Elliston-Towbridge Rd., west of Oak Harbor. We drove there and I counted 209 Tundra Swans. They really start gathering after 3PM. For those interested, head west on Rt. 165 out of Oak Harbor until you come to Elliston-Towbridge Rd. They gather in a large field on the SW quadrant of that intersection in a large field full of corn stubble. I didn't open the car doors because I didn't want to bother them, and remained several hundred yards away, but got nice look through my telescope. Enjoyed watching them in flight as new ones arrived. Here's Steve Pollick's aricle in The Blade: Tundra swans the talk of Ottawa County Tundra swans have become real car-stoppers in western Ottawa County, turning up in such numbers that it has kept the outdoors desk's telephone ringing and the e-mail address full. As many as 2,000 to 3,000 of the birds are wintering here. Hundreds daily are piling into corn stubblefields along State Rt. 163, west of Elliston- Trowbridge Road, about four miles east of Genoa. Afternoons appear to be the best time to view the birds. "This is what we would expect to see in November," said Mark Shieldcastle, the state's head waterfowl biologist based at Crane Creek Research Station north of Oak Harbor. "There is no reason for them to go any farther [south]," he explained. "We've got open water and places to feed. Migration is expensive." Warm temperatures have drawn thousands of huge tundra swans to Ottawa County. Adults are white with black feet and bills. In a normal year, the birds with a 7-foot wingspan would be much farther south by this time. Adult tundra swans are white with black legs and feet and black bills. The abnormally mild winter here, however, has allowed them to shortstop their southbound migration, so they do not have to spend any more energy than necessary. "They seem to prefer an overcast day," said Lloyd Fisher Jr., of Oak Harbor, who sees them as early as noon and who is fascinated by the sight. "I have been able to see small flights of swans heading into the larger gathering in flight over the highway." "They're just magnificent," says Kim Danes, of Rossford, who has watched the great white waterfowl by the hundreds while visiting in the county, her home grounds. She has been seeing the gatherings about 4 p.m. "When they're in flight they're just magnificent." John Hageman, manager of Ohio State University's Stone Laboratory at Put- in-Bay, has been seeing swans along Route 163 just east of Nissen Road during mainland trips. The birds are congregating in stubblefields there too. "I saw them on Friday around sunset, probably 300-plus, then again the next morning, but only 30 or 40 at that time of day. It's a field I've seen migrating swans use for many years," Hageman said. Robert in Fremont, Ohio "And over the pond are sailing Two swans all white as snow; Sweet voices mysteriously wailing Pierce through me as onward they go. They sail along, and a ringing Sweet melody rises on high; And when the swans begin singing, They presently must die." - Heinrich Heine. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]