Hello! Knowing that my weekends are "booked" starting next weekend through mid-March, I decided to head up to Killdeer Plains today and brave the elements to see what was out and about. I started at Washburn Road at ~ 12:30 PM where I was immediately greeted by a large flock of Lapland Longspurs with a few Snow Buntings mixed in, and a male Northern Harrier. Pond 27 was frozen over except for a small area on the westernmost portion of the pond where ~500 Canada Geese and about 62 swans (Tundras of the ones that had their heads up) were hunkered down. The upland reservoir was almost frozen over except for a small area around the island in the far portion of the reservoir. In the small area of open water, there were ~50 Canada Geese and 7 divers which appeared to be Ring-Necked Ducks and/or Scaup (difficult to distinguish given the distance, some shimmer, and blowing snow). I did not find any owls in the ODNR pine grove nor the Northern Shrike I last saw in December. I sat in my car at the Sportsman's Center from 5:40-6:15 PM hoping to see Short-Eared Owls but no luck (they were smart enough NOT to be out). A summary of the birds observed are as follows: Rough-Legged Hawk: 1 just west of Sportsman's Center, saw another by ODNR pine grove (may have been the same one) Bald Eagle: 1 soaring in distance beyond reservoir Red-Headed Woodpecker: saw 1 male at Pond 33 Eastern Meadowlark: saw ~40 including a flock of ~30 along CH-77 west of TH-108 American Kestrel: 1 American Tree Sparrow: ~75 total scattered about Horned Lark: 14 along Washburn Rd. Lapland Longspur: ~200-250 total along Washburn in 3 flocks Snow Bunting: ~10 mixed in with one flock of Longspurs Northern Harrier: ~12 (2 males, 10 females) Red-Tailed Hawk: 12 Ring-Necked and/or Scaup: 7 Tundra Swan: ~62 (presuming all swan bodies observed were Tundra) Crow (8), Flicker (4), Song Sparrow (5), Canada Geese (~500-700), Junco (10), Cardinal (1), Blue Jay (2), Mallard (~15), Black Duck (1), Robin (4), and Mourning Dove (3). Directions to Killdeer can be found at the OOS and the ODNR web sites. Rob Lowry Powell, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ 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]