I spent a few hours on the tower watching the migration. Until 8:30 it was calm, 39 degrees, and very slow. Around 8:30 the wind picked up out of the south and and the birds began pouring through. One of the things I found interesting today was the birds migrating east and west. Blackbirds right over the lakeshore were heading west. They were either red-winged blackbirds or starlings. To the south there were a lot of mixed flocks of blackbirds. There were a lot of killdeer moving with 93 counted. The last few days they were either singles or a couple here and there. Today there were several flocks with the largest 14 birds. Of note was a short-eared owl out over the lake and 4 white-fronted geese heading east out over the lake. Vultures began moving around 9:00. I ended up with 155. They seemed to slow down a bit when it started getting very windy. Other hawks counted were northern harrier 2, Cooper's hawk- 1, red-tailed- 14, red-shouldered 3, and merlin-1. Not bad for February. Lake Erie Bluffs- Clark Road, Lake, Ohio, US Feb 24, 2017 7:10 AM - 10:40 AM Protocol: Stationary Comments: Stationary from tower at the Clark Road parking lot. Calm winds and 39 degree temperature until 8:30. At 8:30 winds switched and by the time I left, it was 71 degrees. 35 species (+1 other taxa) Greater White-fronted Goose 4 Four birds flew by low over the water heading east. Identified by smaller size, speckled bellies and white above the bill. Canada Goose 218 Tundra Swan 19 Gadwall 6 Mallard 10 Common Goldeneye 3 Common Merganser 2 Red-breasted Merganser 405 Turkey Vulture 155 Vultures were migrating . First birds were noted by 9:00. Northern Harrier 2 Cooper's Hawk 1 Bald Eagle 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 Red-tailed Hawk 14 Killdeer 93 Killdeer were migrating. The largest flock was 14 birds. American Woodcock 2 Ring-billed Gull 860 Herring Gull 236 Great Black-backed Gull 4 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 1 Mourning Dove 8 Short-eared Owl 1 Flying out over the lake. Downy Woodpecker 1 Merlin 1 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 943 Eastern Bluebird 17 American Robin 126 European Starling 455 Red-winged Blackbird 2450 Eastern Meadowlark 11 Meadowlarks were migrating overhead. Rusty Blackbird 2 Common Grackle 240 Brown-headed Cowbird 96 blackbird sp. 1500 American Goldfinch 2 John Pogacnik ______________________________________________________________________ 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.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]