I slogged through several areas around Alum Creek Lake and along the creek south of it. The Lake is completely frozen over in the lower reaches, and only a few mallards & geese were hanging out in the very-open spillway below the dam. Deep snow and lack of cover has moved out a lot of smaller birds, but there were still some interesting birds. Highlights included: Canada Geese - even though they weren't on the reservoir, flocks of 150 and 300 were along the creek south in Westerville. No Snow geese were found, however (and 1 was with these Canada flocks on the Hoover CBC 3 weeks ago). Raptors - lots of Red-tails, with 6-8 scattered along the riparian fields from the dam south into Westerville. No Bald Eagles today, but they have been seen in the area recently. Could this be a precursor to a local nest? Screech Owl - the gray-phase bird found at the traditional tree hole along the Alum Creek bikepath was a no-show today (it was present during the CBC), but further south along the bikepath, a red-phase bird was roosting in the girders of the old bridge that spans the creek for the bikepath. Look IN the top girder at the northwest corner. woodpeckers - lots of Downies & Red-bellies at all stops. Hairy woodpeckers were at either side of the Alum Creek Lake dam, and a sapsucker was still present at Heritage Park in Westerville. mockingbird - 1 was calling from the scubby area southeast of the Visitor's Center at Alum Creek Lake. starlings - large flocks at a number of locations, but the biggest flock was 1800 birds playing around at the edge of the dam spillway at ACL. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]