This reservoir and adjoining wildlife area had lots of waterfowl and gulls
this morning.  The reservoir itself, which I viewed from the dam, SW boat
launch, Panhandle Rd, and Sherwood boat ramp, had small ice shelfs crowded
with gulls.  The Panhandle Rd fields were flooded and had lots of dabbling
ducks & coots.  Notables included:

Dabblers - the flooded fields had Gadwalls, Wigeon, Green-wingTeals,
N.Shovelers, and Pintails, with none exceeding 40 birds
Divers - the reservoir had small #s of Redheads, Lesser Scaup, &
Ring-necks, while there were 2 Bufflehead off the Sherwood ramp
Mergansers - a small group of Red-br.Mergansers was off Panhandle Rd, and
small #s of Hooded Mergansers were at many locations
OtherWaterfowl - lots of Coots in the flooded fields, plus 1 Horned Grebe
in the reservoir
Gulls - 600+ Ring-bills scattered around all the sites on the Reservoir,
along with a few Herring and Bonapartes
E.Phoebe - 1 calling at Mingo Park, far south of the dam
Rusty Blackbirds - 8-10 were working through the swampy forest on old
Leonardsburg Rd in the Delaware wildlife area.  This is a very reliable
spot for them in migration.

I also stopped briefly at Hogback Rd and the St.37 bridge in upper Alum
Creek Lake, but there was little in either spot.  The water level here is
still quite low, with lots of mudflats along upper Hogback Rd, so this may
be a decent shorebird spot as the Spring progresses.

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