There wasn't much open water on Alum Creek Lake (north of Columbus) this morning, but the few open patches there were jammed with waterfowl. I even had flocks flying over the Columbus Outerbelt, so waterfowl migration seems underway. The best leads at ACL were off the New Galena launch and off the Cheshire causeway. Among the hordes were Mute Swans _ 4 off Cheshire Canada Geese - 200+, mostly off Cheshire Wood Duck - 1 male out with the swarm off New Galena Mallards - 160+, mostly off Cheshire BlackDucks - 25+ off Cheshire Green-winged Teal - 5 off New Galena AmWigeon - 3 off Cheshire Gadwall - a pair off New Galena N.Pintail - 10+ off each spot Lesser Scaup - 20+ off New Galena, 10+ off Cheshire Redhead - 40+ off New Galena, 20+ off Cheshire Ring-necked Duck - 4 off Cheshire Common Goldeneye - an eye-popping 65+ were off New Galena Bufflehead - 12 off New Galena Red-br.Merganser - 8 off New Galena Hooded Mergansers - 2 off New Galena, 40+ off Cheshire Pied-billed Grebes - singles at New Galena & Cheshire Horned Grebe - 1 off New Galena There was a huge flock of Gulls far out on the ice off New Galena when I arrive at 8. It held about 1500 birds at that time, but was steadily losing birds as they flew south over the dam, presumably heading for the Columbus landfill. They were too far to search effectively for rarities, but there were a few laerge gulls among them; none with dark backs, alas. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]