Yesterday evening, I checked out the Cowan Lake heronry with my Wilmington College ornithology class and found 14 nests occupied. It was very cloudy with intermittent rain limiting the visibility, so we may have overlooked a few. The heronry can be seen from Old State Road, which runs parallel to the dam just to the west. There is a parking pullout on the east side of the road just opposite the Spillway Lodge. Click here<http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=104411027825639848188.000001120143706692393&ll=39.391997,-83.922415&spn=0.022586,0.028582&z=15>to bring up an interactive map to the area. We used the last of the daylight to follow up on a tip from Larry Gara about an unusual wildlife event at Caesars Creek. The Corps of Engineers, pursuant to their mission of saving Cincinnati from the ravaging waters of Caesars Creek, are hanging on to a great deal of water, so much so that the beach is inundated almost to the level of the pavilion. This means that a vast expanse of lawn is under water, providing a vast load of grass and inverts for the ducks to feast on. We found several hundred coot in a tight flock, plus about 200 Lesser Scaup, perhaps 100 Bufflehead, and a smattering of other ducks. Strangely, there were very few puddle ducks present. Cheers, Bob -- Robert D Powell Wilmington, OH, USA [log in to unmask] http://rdp1710.wordpress.com Nulla dies sine linea ______________________________________________________________________ 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]