I roamed around Hoover Reservoir (northeast of Columbus) looking for stranded waterbirds & winter invaders.  The reservoir was almost completely frozen over with a shimmery, snow-free layer of ice, which was a shock since it had been largely open on Friday.  There were a few ice-holes north of Maxtown boat launch, and the spillway was open, but the rest of the area was completely iced-in. Predictably, the spillway had a huge flock of geese & ducks, as mentioned by Bruce Simpson yesterday.  I also stopped at several of the small feeder streams - Duncan Glen, Twin Bridges, Area N - looking for winter strays, but didn't find anything very unusual.  Highlights included:

Spillway ducks: 400 Mallards, 12 Black Ducks, 15 N.Shovelers, 8 Gadwalls, 16 AmericanWigeons, 15 Redhead, 5 Com.Goldeneye, 6 Bufflehead, and 12 hooded Mergansers

Other Waterfowl - Canada Geese - 460 (spillway), 140 (Maxtown);  Mute Swan - 1 (Maxtown)

BaldEagle - 1 immature perched by the dam spillway

Other raptors - Cooper's Hawk (Area N),  Red-tailed Hawks - singles at DuncanGlen, TwinBridges, AreaN

Gulls - 25 Ring-billed, 4 Herring  all around dam & spillway

Pileated Woodpeckers - single birds at Duncan Glen and AreaN

BrownCreeper - not a one, which is odd given that I was in perfect habitat most of the morning

Kinglet - only 1, a Golden-crowned, was at Maxtown boat launch woods

Mockingbird - a single bird was hanging around fruit trees along Plumb Rd (a dead end to the NW shore)

Yellow-rumped Warbler - only 1, a single bird at Twin Bridges

Sparrows - surprisingly few, with small flocks of White-throats & juncos at several spots

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