On Monday I had a chance to visit many of the accesses along Hoover Reservoir (NE of Columbus). Most of the areas above the dam were still icy, although some leads had opened up near shore in several areas. The spillway was much less birdy than when it was colder; the main action seems to have moved up to the big openings around the Sunbury bridge and Oxbow Island. The road onto Oxbow Island remains closed, but you can still scope much of the surrounding water from its base. Notables included: Mute Swans - 3 south of the Sunbury causeway Canada Geese - pairs everywhere there was open water Mallards - abundant BlackDucks - a few off Sunbury Bridge, Mudhen marsh, and Oxbow Shovelers - 2 at the dam Wigeon - a few at the dam and off Sunbury causeway Gadwall - flock of 20 off Maxtown, another of 15 at Sunbury bridge Pintail - 4-6 south of Sunbury bridge, 2-4 more off Oxbow Lesser Scaup - small flocks at several locations Redhead - a few off Sunbury causeway Bufflehead - 3 inthe dam spillway; a few more off Sunbury causeway Common Goldeneye - small #s everywhere; most were 12 south of Sunbury causeway Common Merganser - 8 off Oxbow Red-br.Merganser - 10 off Oxbow Hooded Merganser - a few at every stop Ruddy Duck - 2 south of Sunbury causeway Gulls - surprisingly few, perhaps 60 total, all Ring-billed Landbirds were thin, as befits a rainy cold day, but included: Bald Eagle - 1 juvenile off Oxbow Island Golden-cr.Kinglets - a few at several stops (more than usual for here) Redwings - only a few flyovers It seems unlikely that things have changed much here due to yesterday's cold weather, so the big surge of waterfowl at Hoover may be later this week. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]