A run through some Summit County hotspots today yielded plenty of lingering waterfowl as well as the return of the expected early spring migrants/residents. Highlights follow. NIMISILA RESERVOIR Canada Goose - 32 Wood Duck - 5 (3m,2f) Gadwall - 4 (2m,2f) American Wigeon - 1 (m) Mallard - 11 (7m,4f) Redhead - 21 (14m,7f) Ring-necked Duck - 4 (2m,2f) Lesser Scaup - about 175 (no Greater Scaup found) Bufflehead - 32 (21m,11f) Hooded Merganser - 6 (3m,3f) Red-breasted Merganser - 6 (4m,2f) Ruddy Duck - 10 (6m,4f - one male ahead of the rest in brilliant breeding plumage) Pied-billed Grebe - 8 Horned Grebe - 33 American Coot - 295 Killdeer - 2 Bonaparte's Gull - 6 (flying & left as soon as we got there, headed north/northwest) Common Loon - 3 (one calling & preening belly feathers - rolling onto its side with one foot extended - nice!) Great Blue Heron - 3 (2 on new nests on first island at north end off of Christman Rd. next to Osprey nest) Turkey Vulture - 1 Bald Eagle - 1 (immature that scattered many of the ducks at south end along the dam) Belted Kingfisher - 1 (m) Northern Flicker - 3 Pileated Woodpecker - 1 Eastern Phoebe - 3 Tree Swallow - 6 Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2 Eastern Towhee - 1 SPRINGFIELD BOG METRO PARK Wilson's Snipe - 1 Bonaparte's Gull - 6 (fly-overs - same 6 birds from Nimisila?) Herring Gull - 1 (fly-over) Turkey Vulture - 1 Cooper's Hawk - 1 (m) Red-tailed Hawk - 2 (1 with a fresh-caught Meadow Vole) Eastern Meadowlark - 1 (also, many Western Chorus Frogs calling, followed by Wood Frogs (photographed two), then Northern Spring Peepers and 4 Bullfrogs, as well as 5 dead Bullfrogs around center pond) Rusty Blackbird - 2 (1m,1f - flipping leaves in Young's Bog) NORTH RESERVOIR Double-crested Cormorant - 9 Osprey - 1 (at the top of the tall communications tower on Meyers Island - the nest platform off the big island off of State Mill Rd. has blown over) Belted Kingfisher - 1 (m) Tree Swallow - 9 OHIO & ERIE CANAL TOWPATH TRAIL PARKING LOT IN CLINTON Red-shouldered Hawk - 2 (one violently dive-bombing a Red-tailed Hawk) Red-tailed Hawk - 1 BENNER RD. WETLANDS Gadwall - 8 (4m,4f) Mallard - 4 (2m,2f) Northern Shoveler - 4 (2m,2f) Green-winged Teal - 7 (4m,3f) WILBETH RD. WETLANDS (just east of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail) Canada Goose - 10 Gadwall - 4 (2m,2f) Mallard - 6 (3m,3f) Northern Shoveler - 16 (12m,4f) Ring-necked Duck - 4 (2m,2f) Lesser Scaup - 2 (1m,1f) Bufflehead - 16 (10m,6f) Hooded Merganser - 16 (9m,7f) Pied-billed Grebe - 2 American Coot - 11 Cooper's Hawk - 1 (f) SUMMIT LAKE Canada Goose - 12 Mallard - 6 (3m,3f) Lesser Scaup - 19 (13m,6f) Bufflehead - 8 (5m,3f) Hooded Merganser - 13 (7m,6f) Red-breasted Merganser - 15 (8m,7f) Ruddy Duck - 23 (12m,11f) Pied-billed Grebe - 2 Horned Grebe - 27 American Coot - 91 Ring-billed Gull - 1 Herring Gull - 2 We finished with 64 species for the day. Douglas W. & Michelle Vogus - Akron, Ohio. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]