Mary and I poked around at Hoover Reservoir (northeast of Columbus) looking for storm-blown waifs. Looks as though the high winds blew birds away rather than blowing birds in. There were the usual gulls (most Ring-billed but a few Herrings, no Bonaparte's) and Great Blue Herons; alas, no storm-tossed southern specialty waders. Shorebirds were scarce, with just a few Least Sandpipers on the east shore near the road past the yacht club. Even killdeer numbers seemed to be down, with small groups rather than large flocks (by killdeer standards). The dark shapes in the air all were Turkey Vultures, not frigatebirds. The five pelicans near the yacht club would have been exciting had they not been present for the past few weeks. Of course, we didn't check every bird. Were some of those distant gulls unusual species? Were stints hidden around the next corner? Who knows? Speaking of the abandoned road from the yacht club, it's a bit of an obstacle course in spots but still quite passable for those nimble enough to crawl over an occasional horizontal tree trunk or leafy branch; we only had to go completely off trail once. A couple of the smaller paths down to the edge of the water present more difficulties. -- Bill Heck ______________________________________________________________________ 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]