I was also at Killdeer Plains Friday ... arriving at Pond 27 at 5:30 pm. The geese were launching in several directions in successive waves with many already well in the distance (to the horizon) to the southeast. Roughly 2500 Canada Geese left the immediate area leaving 2200 on the ice at Pond 27 to sift through. A single Greater White-fronted Goose was seen within one flock leaving to the southeast. Scoping the the birds at idle, I found a flock of 5 Cackling Geese. I failed to locate any Snows. The puddle duck numbers were drastically reduced from that reported a couple of days earlier. I found no more than about 600 Mallards, 120 American Black Ducks, and 3 Northern Pintails on Pond 27. Another 840 Canadas were on the reservoir to the west, and while there a flock of 40+ Redhead headed south quite high. As noted by others, the Short-eared Owls were active before sunset ... a quick 10 minute drive produced 13 birds. cheers Vic Fazio Shaker Hts, OH [log in to unmask] wrote: Hello! From about 11:30 AM to 3:45 PM today, Ken Davis, Dan Sanders, and I checked out the Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area. The more notable observations included the following: Greater White-Fronted Goose-15 mixed in with a large flock of Canada Geese near open holes in the ice at Pond 27. Five were observed in the eastern pond whereas 10 were in the western pond. Northern Pintail and Black Duck-5 to 7 each in Pond 27 Snow Goose-2 mixed in with the Canada Geese at westernmost Pond 27 A few each of Tundra, Trumpeter, and Mute Swans in Pond 27 and 2 Trumpeters in the upland reservoir Short-Eared Owl-surprisingly, one flying high near Pond 27 at noon Northern Shrike-good views of 1 in the field south of CH-71 and west of CH-115 Eastern Meadowlark-7 in the same field as the Shrike Northern Harrier-9 or 10 Red-Tailed Hawk-10 or so American Kestrel-4 Horned Lark We did not see any Rough-Legged Hawks, Red-Headed Woodpeckers, Bald Eagles, Lapland Longspurs, or Snow Buntings as hoped. Personally, I have yet to see any Red-Headed Woodpeckers in their traditional haunts at Abraham Marsh or Pond 33 in three visits this past month. We looked through the numerous Canada Geese but could not find any Cackling Geese. Directions to Killdeer can be found on the OOS or ODNR web sites. Rob Lowry Powell, Ohio **************Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape. http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489 ______________________________________________________________________ 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] ______________________________________________________________________ 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]