I made a quick visit to the northern reaches of Hoover Reservoir (southern Delaware Co.) this morning, still searching for early waterfowl.  I visited Oxbow Island and the Plumb & Wiese Rd accesses along the western shore, but had little in the way of waterfowl.  Oxbow had a small flock of 8 Wood Ducks, while the northern end of the reservoir visible from Wiese had 50+ cormorants and 1 Pied-billed Grebe.  Landbirds were only slightly more interesting, with flocks of Blue jays and Cedar waxwings at all stops; waxwings were the most common bird of the morning.  Notables included:

Gulls - 20-30 Bonaparte's were in the upper Reservoir, along with 120+ Ring-bills.  The gravel bars on the east and west sides are starting to emerge, giving these birds good loafing spots.

Shorebirds - some fringing mudflats at the north end held 15+ Kildeer, but nothing else.

Wrens,Kinglets - 1 Winter Wren was along the old road at Wiese, while a few Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets were at every stop.

E.Bluebirds - high-flying flocks of 4 at Oxbow and 5 at Wiese suggest that these birds are starting to migrate.

Pipit - 1 was hanging around the mud edge at Wiese.

Cedar Waxwings - flocks of 20-40 birds were at most stops.  I even watched several flocks fly south over Oxbow Island, so they seem to be moving through.

Sparrows - nothing other than the expected White-throats and Songs with a few stray Chipping and Fields.

Blackbirds - a few small flocks of grackles and Redwings were moving over Oxbow Island early, but no flocks were bigger than 10 birds.

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