I trekked out to the Mad River area looking for a few highlight birds as
well as general waterbird migration.   My main target was the reservoirs
along the River and its branches, including Buck Creek lake, Huffman lake,
and Eastwood Lake - all of which have had interesting birds of late.   I
also ventured up to Carriage Hill park to see if the Black-bellied
Whistling Duck - a personal nemesis - was still lingering.   It was, and is
fairly easy to find, since it's on the only sizeable lake in the Park,
Cedar Lake, and easily picked out from the flock of mallards & gadwalls
there.

Buck Lake is a terrific trap for migrating waterbirds, probably because it
is the only large reservoir along the west edge of the Darby Plains.   It
had lots of interesting migrants, including Loons, Grebes, Coots, and a
large milling flock of Bonaparte's Gulls, but the normally large flock of
gulls that sits on the beach was absent.   The only ducks I had were a
small cluster of Ruddy Ducks, but a later group found Scaup, as well as a
Merlin, so the birds here turn over quickly.

Eastwood lake was disappointing, with only a flock of geese and a handful
of pied-billed grebes & mallards.   It was pretty wind-blown and gets lots
of fishermen, a combination that may push out waterfowl that stop over.
Nearby Huffman Lake is more protected, and had a nice cluster of dabblers,
including mallards, gadwalls, and shovelers, as well as lots of gulls and a
few lingering cormorants.   Both of these lakes had forest edges along the
river that held decent numbers of landbirds, but nothing unusual beyond
flocks of Yellow-rumped warblers

______________________________________________________________________

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]