I stopped by Hoover reservoir for an hour this afternoon, working the shoreline from maxtown launch down to the dam. The area above County Line Road has only a few opening, but these have quite a few waterfowl & gulls. The lower reservoir (from County Line bridge south to the dam) is mostly open, with only some shelf ice around the coves and at the dam. It also had a good diversity of ducks and lots of gulls. Nothing special, but the list did include Black Ducks - small numbers at many spots American Wigeon - several small groups off Walnut St. boat ramp N.Pintail - a small flocks of 12 off the Walnut St. Boat Ramp Redhead - small flock far east of the Walnut St. Boat Ramp Canvasback - 4 right off the Walnut St. Boat Ramp Ring-necked Ducks - small flocks at several locations Lesser Scaup - small flocks at every spot, perhaps totaling 120 Greater Scaup - at least 2 were off the Walnut St. Boat launch Common Goldeneye - 5 were in an open patch hear the dam Common Merganser - 5 were far east from the Walnut St, boat ramp Red-br.Merganser - small flocks at most stops, perhaps 80 birds total Hooded Mergansers - pairs in many locations Horned Grebes - at least 5 off the Walnut St. boat launch American Coot - 2 were off the marina above the dam Ring-billed Gulls - many flocks on ice shelves, perhaps 600 total Herring Gulls - mixed in with Ring-bills, perhaps 70 total. I suspect that if I had more time to pick through all the flocks and gulls, I might have turned up something more unusual. The middle & northern parts of Hoover should become very good for waterbirds over the next 3-4 days. ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]