Some personal observations on wildlife in the area:
I had some free time early on this Saturday morning so dashed out to the Muskingum River to scout out the waterfowl. Here is what I know I saw:
- 3 blue winged teal
- 1 wood duck
- 1 coot
- osprey
- kingfishers
- red bellied woodpecker
- hairy woodpecker
All sorts of smaller birds but I am out of practice with these and I was primarily concerned with the waterfowl anyways.
What I thought was my highlight of the morning was the river otter that I stared down for about two minutes. It was not too happy with me—hissing and growling.
There was a flock of 20 waterbirds which were unfortunately too far out for me to confirm but I am placing my bet on bufflehead and possibly lesser scaup and canvasback. I could make out the white sides on some and white on the heads of others but that was as close as I could get for detail. Another four of the flock were larger birds but again I was too far out to distinguish–hope to get back and see what I can see again later. It will take higher powered binoculars than what I was carrying to see across the pond.
Unconfirmed bald eagle (I know they are in the area and it was behind the trees before I could get a full look)