Today was a good day for waterfowl watching from the comfort of my car (although it did get a bit chilly when I occasionally rolled down the window to use a spotting scope). I began at East Harbor State Park < _http://www.eastharborstatepark.org_ (http://www.eastharborstatepark.org) > in Ottawa County. On the left as I drove out to the beach, three young Bald Eagles were on the ice of EHSP's Middle Harbor. On the right side of the road, in the water known as East Harbor, there were two Mute Swans, some Mallards, and four Great Blue Herons. At the beach, although there was ice along the shore there was open water not too far out. Species present included Lesser Scaup (and perhaps at least one Greater Scaup), Canvasback, Common Goldeneye, Mallard, Common Merganser, and Red-breasted Merganser. Ring-billed and Herring Gulls were also present. After leaving EHSP, I turned right and headed north to the end of the road and parked in the lot of the state park marina to get a view of West Harbor. It was mostly iced up, and the only birds of note were two Great Black-backed Gulls and a flock of crows. From there, I went to the northern end of the old bridge that had once crossed Sandusky Bay, just east of the current Rt 2 bridge. This area and the other half in Bayview are open for fishing and birding. There was a lot of open water close to the bridge. Species here included Canvasback, American Widgeon, Ruddy Duck, Redhead, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Lesser Scaup, and a few Greater Scaup. The Scaup species were fairly close to the road, and offered wonderful comparisons. Once when I had both species in view the sun made one of its rare appearances and, for the first time, I was able to see the subtle color difference between the two species. Before leaving the Marblehead peninsula, I stopped near the northern end of the Rt 2 bridge and saw a large dark bird soaring rather high up. Having grown up in Hinckley, I really hate to admit this, but it was a Buzzard (aka Turkey Vulture to all you non-Hinckley natives). I guess it is okay, as long as he waits twelve more days before making his appearance in Hinckley. Next stop, the Castalia Duck Pond which contained Northern Shoveler, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Redhead, Canvasback, Common Goldeneye, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Ruddy Duck, Hooded Merganser, Mallard, American Coot, and Canada Geese. As I headed north into the town of Bayview, I noticed a flock of Hooded Mergansers in the water that runs parallel to the east side of the road just down the hill from the Rt 2 interchange. On the southern side of the old bridge abutment there was less open water and some of the birds were quite far out but I observed Canvasback, Scaup (to far out to spot any Greater), Common Goldeneye, Redhead, Hooded Merganser, and Common Merganser. Medusa Marsh is still mostly iced up, but there was a mute swan sleeping in a small area of open water. One last note, while on the Marblehead peninsula, I think I saw a killdeer flying over a field, but there was too much traffic to get a good enough look to be sure. Sheryl Young Sandusky <BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]