I checked the Magee Marsh property today and saw a few duck species on the causeway and on the pond by the boardwalk. The water is high on the boardwalk and was frozen around the edges this morning. The nice surprise was the amount of Wood Ducks I scared-up while walking near 22B on the eastern side; actually they scared me!! The total was 11 ducks! Here is a list of what I saw this morning around the property. First pond just past The Black Swamp Bird Observatory on the left 1. Trumpeter Swan - 2 2. Bald Eagle - 1 immature 3. Ring-billed Gull - 2 Road to the causeway 1. Dark-eyed Junco - 3 2. American Robin - 5 3. Song Sparrow - 2 4. Red-winged Blackbirds - everywhere now 5. Common Grackles - everywhere now 6. Rusty Blackbirds - heard several along the road 7. Canada Geese - several 8. ducks flying in all directions!! Causeway 1. Pied-billed Grebe - 1 2. Mallard - 26 3. American Black Duck - 11 4. Gadwall - 45 5. Northern Shoveler - 12 6. American Wigeon - 14 7. Green-winged Teal - 12 my first of the year! 8. Ring-necked Duck - 12 9. Bufflehead - 2 (1 pair) 10. Common Merganser - 1 male 11. Hooded Merganser - 2 12. Common Goldeneye - 2 13. Great Blue Heron - 2 14. Bad Eagle - 1 immature 15. Ring-billed Gulls - many 16. Herring Gulls - a few seen 17. Canada Geese - everywhere 18. Red-winged Blackbirds - everywhere 19. Common Grackles - increasing by the day Pond by the boardwalk 1. Bufflehead - 4 2. Canada Geese - 2 Boardwalk 1. Mallard - 4 (2 pair) 2. Wood Duck - 11 total at 22B all flushed-up at one time 3. Herring Gull - flyovers 4. Ring-billed Gull - flyovers 5. American Robin - 1 male only 6. European Starlings - several seen 7. Mourning Dove - 2 8. Northern Cardinal - 4 males setting-up territories 9. Common Grackles - everywhere 10 Red-winged Blackbirds - everywhere setting-up territories 11. Rusty Blackbirds - saw 1 heard 3 others. 12. Song Sparrows - 6; they have arrived PS Mark & Julie Shieldcastle had an American Woodcock flush-up on them early this morning on the John Gallagher Walking Trail behind the Black Swamp Bird Observatory building. Spring is almost here; yes. Happy Birding Everyone Chris Knoll Christopher J. Knoll Education Director Black Swamp Bird Observatory 13551 West State Route 2 Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449 Phone: 419-898-4070 Fax: 419-898-1363 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]