Hey all - I began the morning at Sandy Ridge, where I counted 79(!) Wood Ducks, perhaps the largest concentration I've ever encountered in the state. Otherwise, waterfowl variety was good, but numbers were down - due to the ice that still covers most of the marshes. 169 Ring-necked Ducks were in the first impoundment on the left. Landbird highlights included a phoebe, creeper, and 4 Red-headed Woodpeckers. On to Oberlin Reservoir, where ice still covers 99.9% of the surface. There were 27 Tundra Swans on the ice and lots of gulls, but nothing unusual among them. About 50 assorted ducks were in the small patch of open water. At least one eagle was attending to the nest. The Long-eared Owl roost at Caley seems to have dissipated for the year. I saw no owls or evidence thereof. The back pond held a few waterfowl - 30 Ring-necks, 11 Redhead, 6 wigeon, and a couple pintails. A female harrier was also hunting in this area. The final stop was Wellington. There are plenty of waterfowl here, probably a thousand or so individuals. The birds are all in close, as the back half of the lake remains ice-covered. Again, nothing unusual - just healthy numbers of Ruddy Ducks, scaup, Redhead, Gadwall, coot, and 40 Horned Grebes. Good birding - Gabe Leidy Cleveland ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]