New ducks!

Steve and I went to Greenlawn Dam on the Scioto to look for some more new ducks for our bird list. We found three new ones today: Redhead, Common Goldeneye, and Buffleheads. We also saw Mallards, Lesser Scaup, Pied-bill Grebe and Hooded Mergansers along with Ring-billed Gulls, Canada Goose, and a Great Blue Heron. Unfortunately, I don't have a big enough lens to shoot good photos from across the river, but I took a couple that were good enough that you can see the field marks of the ducks. No pics of buffleheads or hooded mergansers today. We'll have to go back to this spot with the telescope sometime.


We first took a look at the river from above the dam. Not much to see in the way of birds, but this sight was pretty intriguing. Looks like a bad day for someone, but it's actually a set-up for a training exercise for the Columbus Fire Department. Some lucky trainees are going to have to go into the icy water this evening to rescue a couple of mannequins from this overturned and submerged car.





Here are two of the three firemen who set up this exercise. "This isn't going into the Dispatch, is it?" they asked. No - just on my blog. . .









That's Steve walking toward the dam. Nothing to see from there, so we had to drive over to the other side of the river and walk down the bike path to see some ducks.









Here's the frozen river above the dam. Those buoys will probably host some herons come summer time.









Ok, that's better. Two males and a female redhead duck.










The aptly named common goldeneye.













This Canada Goose was near the shore I was photographing from, so it's a much better picture.










Icecicles from the drain pipes on Greenlawn bridge. We still have a lot of snow on the ground. It has a crust of ice on top, which makes walking through it pretty fun. We're supposed to have freezing rain tonight. Winter is still with us here in central Ohio.