I did a watch from the spit at Conneaut harbor today.  I was there from 7:45 AM -10:45 AM, and from 11:45 AM - 2:45 PM.  Lots of waterbirds moved through/passed by, especially in the morning.  It was cold, windy, and raining most of the time; not the best viewing conditions, but I was able to stay in my car and use it as a shelter/blind.  Geese and cormorants were moving west, while most ducks and shorebirds were headed east.  I had to leave a number of fowl unidentified.  Most of the shorebirds made only brief stops at the spit.  Here's the final tally: 120+ BRANT (at least 7 flocks), 300 Canada geese, 10 gadwalls, 6 Am. black ducks, mallards (small number, not counted), 20 n. pintails, 7 green-winged teal, 1 greater scaup, 40 lesser scaup, 1 SURF SCOTER, 2 red-breasted mergansers, 505 double-crested cormorants, 1 great blue heron, 2 black-crowned night-herons, 1 bald eagle, 5 Am. coots, 5 black-bellied plovers, 1 greater yellowlegs, 31
 sanderlings, 105 dunlins, 130 Bonaparte's gulls, only a modest number of ring-billed & herring gulls, 3 great black-backed gulls, 1 common tern, 1 barn swallow (late), and 1 SNOW BUNTING (first of the season).  If you go to the Conneaut sandspit, beware of the soft sand!!  Dan S. and Doreene L. got stuck this afternoon and had to call a tow truck.  On my way home on Rte. 7 in Ashtabula Co. I saw a flock of 15 turkey vultures in Pierpont Twp., and 500+ blackbirds in Richmond Twp.  Craig Holt, Lowellville

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