I took a quick look through the St. Mary's Fish Hatchery Sunday afternoon around 3 p.m. Most of the ponds that are that were drained are dried out. There were only a few Killdeer in the way of shorebirds. I made one pass through in the car and only saw a couple Northern Shovelers and Wood Ducks among the Mallards. There were several hundred Canada Geese in the grassy areas near the building; busy blanketing everything with their droppings. I turned around at the far end and checked again as I was driving back out, and was surprised to see 7 Cackling Geese on the pond just south of the building. They were huddled in a tight flock, swimming near a group of Mallards which provided a great size comparison. They were only slightly bigger than the Mallards, with their cute stubby bills. They seemed nervous when I stopped the car to look. They swam toward the back of the pond, staying tightly grouped the whole time. I found that a great behavior comparison to the Canadas ten yards from my car, grazing in the open grass like sheep. Brian Menker Dayton/Springfield ______________________________________________________________________ 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]