While counting waterfowl at Cowan Lake this evening, I swept the scope across a large blocky shape standing on the ice. I figured at once that it had to be a Bald Eagle, obviously a sub-adult because it did not have a white head or tail. After about two minutes, the bird took flight, revealing a whitish tail tip with a broad dark terminal band. However, the underwing lacked the extensive white patches that would have made it a Golden Eagle. Then it disappeared over the horizon. I figure it was a first-cycle bird. As for the waterfowl, the migration has cranked up. I counted 1009 waterfowl of 16 species. Nothing special, except that we seem to be having an extraordinary flight of Common Goldeneye. I had 10 today, 46 total on five counts so far this year. Of the three previous years of systematic counts, the high count for the entire season was 22 (2008). There were also about 500 Ring-billed Gulls present, as there have been for the past week or ten days. Cheers, Bob -- Robert D Powell Congress Farm Research Institute Wilmington, OH, USA [log in to unmask] http://rdp1710.wordpress.com Nulla dies sine aves ______________________________________________________________________ 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]