Hello! Yesterday (Saturday, March 29th), Dan Sanders and I birded several locations along a circuit south and west of Columbus starting at the Clarence Brown Reservoir at Buck Creek State Park NE of Springfield and ending at Antrim Lake in Columbus. In between, our circuit included stops at Old Reid Park across from the Clarence Brown Reservoir, Spring Valley WA, Caesar Creek Visitor Center feeders and Lake (from the beach only), the Melvin gravel quarry pond, wetlands off of Dick Road near Deer Creek Reservoir, Deer Creek Reservoir from the beach area, the Haul Road quarry ponds off of SR 104 in south Columbus, and the "Watermark Lake" in the Watermark complex in Grandview (I-670 and Grandview Avenue). Without going into the detail of listing every species observed at each location, selected highlights of the trip included the following: American White Pelican-as previously reported, 3 resting at the northern reaches of the Brown Reservoir accessed off of Grant Road. Later in the morning, they slowly spiraled up and out of view. Surf Scoter-great close up views of a first winter female at Old Reid Park Great Egret-3 at Old Reid Park White-Winged Scoter-as previously reported, 2 at the Watermark Lake Canvasback-4 at the Watermark Lake Common Loon-40 (est.) at Brown Reservoir, 7 (est.) at Melvin gravel quarry lake, 1 at the Haul Road quarry lake, and 1 at the Watermark Lake Osprey-1 flying over the entrance area to the Deer Creek beach Tree Swallow-70 (est.) flying over the lake at Spring Valley WA (no Purple Martins observed) Swamp Sparrow-2 at Spring Valley along boardwalk Eastern Meadowlark-at least 2 near the parking area overlooking the Brown Reservoir on east side of lake Generally, the most numerous diving birds observed overall included Coot, Scaup, Red-Breasted Merganser, and Horned Grebe, with lesser numbers of Bufflehead, Redhead, Ring-Necked Duck, Ruddy Duck, Pied-Billed Grebe, and Hooded Merganser. Common Goldeneye were observed at the Brown Reservoir (2) and at Spring Valley (1 female). Dabblers observed included Green- and Blue-Winged Teal, Gadwall (great close up views at Old Reid Park), with lesser numbers of Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Black Duck, and Wood Duck. Large flocks of Cormorants were observed near the Pelicans and at the Haul Road quarry lake (75 est. at each location). At Caesar Creek and Deer Creek, lake levels were very high and at Deer Creek, park roads from SR 207 leading down to various observation points were closed due to high water. Please e-mail me privately for more specific information on any location and/or species. Rob Lowry Powell, Ohio **************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home. (http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001) ______________________________________________________________________ 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]