Not in the same league as the Snowy Owls popping up everywhere, but still good enough to make us smile. Linda and I checked the activity at Oxbow Road this afternoon. The hit was a raft of Ruddy Ducks we estimated to be 300 strong. Most of the birds were to the north side of the causeway and the best viewing was from the north end of the island. Species seen included: Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose American Black Duck Mallard Redhead Ring-necked Duck Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Ruddy Duck Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Coot Bonaparte's Gull Ring-billed Gull Mourning Dove Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Blue Jay American Crow Horned Lark Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren Eastern Bluebird American Robin Northern Mockingbird European Starling Yellow-rumped Warbler American Tree Sparrow Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal American Goldfinch Charlie Bombaci ______________________________________________________________________ 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]