Sean Williams and I birded Killdeer Plains WA and Big Island WA this morning from 8:30-12:30. We spent most of the time in the car and kept a detailed count of raptors. Overall we counted 8 BALD EAGLES, 16 Northern Harriers, 9 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS (3 dark phase), 24 Red-tailed Hawks and 8 American Kestrels. 31 Eastern Meadowlarks at KPWA brightened up the day. Pond 27 at KPWA was frozen except for three small holes that were loaded with waterfowl. We conservatively estimated 4500 geese and 7500 dabbling ducks in the immediate area. 6 TUNDRA SWANS and one Mute Swan also joined the party. There was one GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE among the Canada Geese and we later saw 4 more on the island in the above-ground reservoir. Of the 7500 ducks, there were 4 Gadwall, about 1000 American Black Ducks, and 80+ Northern Pintail. The rest were Mallards. In all likelihood there were many more pintail, but we could only see 80 at any given time. 2 SNOW GEESE were mixed in with many hundred Canada Geese in the corn stubble southwest of the Prospect-Upper Sandusky Rd and Irvin-Shoots Rd intersection. We stopped at Delaware Reservoir on our way home and saw two lingering Bonaparte's Gull's amongst many ring-billeds. Complete list: 5 Greater White-fronted Goose 2 Snow Goose 5200 Canada Goose 1 Mute Swan 6 Tundra Swan 4 Gadwall 1000 American Black Duck 6500 Mallard 80+ Northern Pintail 8 Bald Eagle 16 Northern Harrier 24 Red-tailed Hawk 9 Rough-legged Hawk 8 American Kestrel 2 Bonaparte's Gull 30 Ring-billed Gull 50 Rock Pigeon 20 Mourning Dove 2 Long-eared Owl 5 Red-bellied Woodpecker 4 Downy Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 6 Northern Flicker 3 Blue Jay 35 American Crow 45 Horned Lark 1 Eastern Bluebird 40 American Robin 1 Northern Mockingbird 500 European Starling 1 Cedar Waxwing 220 American Tree Sparrow 15 Song Sparrow 2 White-crowned Sparrow 2 Dark-eyed Junco 5 Northern Cardinal 31 Eastern Meadowlark 1 House Finch 5 American Goldfinch 35 House Sparrow Jack Stenger Ohio Wesleyan University [log in to unmask] --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]