Because of the weather I made 2 trips to the lake Sunday, and I've included the narratives and counts from both because of the changes in count and ultimately the weather, as the Arctic front came through, starting about 10 minutes to 3:00. Ist report: Started out around 11 AM, because it was so foggy up till then I wouldn't have been able to see much. I wish now I had gone out earlier, because it started to rain after about an hour and a half to the point where I couldn't use my scope. It was already pretty bad, with the ground/water/ice-hugging fog and mist. Actually, the rain seems to be dissipating the fog, and if the rain stops I'm planning to go out again, so hopefully these figures are preliminary. Except for the exact count I doubt they will change much though. The lake is about 80% frozen and that has pushed the birds into a "corner", almost literally. Almost all the ducks I found were almost directly off the Beach at Waterfront Park (Wangumbaug Dr.) in a few acres of open water there. In one respect, the sudden freeze may have benefited the count somewhat, as I had more Mergs of both sp. than I found on 2 previous tries. they may have come in from other locations, but possibly were scattered around the lake, since I never found them in one place before. the 9 Mute Swans have been there for a week now, and that's the most I ever saw on the lake. The CG count is down, so they are hiding someplace, maybe in a corn field. I saw no sign of the Ruddies that have been there this week. The corner they were in is frozen solid. Also, no sign of the Loon. Ring-billed Gull 37 Herring Gull 3 Mute Swan 9 Canada Geese 57 Hooded Merganser 64 Common Merganser 69 Ring-necked Duck 5 Gadwall 2 Mallard 91 I headed out again about 1:45, and was pleasantly surprised to see that in 3 hours time a lot of the lake ice had melted. I estimated 60% remaining frozen. As I expected I found pretty much the same birds, but quite a few more in some cases, probably because the fog was completely gone and the light was low but visibility very good. I have used the high counts from my two trips for the final count, and I suspect the merganser totals are actually a little low, because I kept finding a few more here and there, but I also think more may have come into the lake after my first time out. I finally found 2 of the Ruddy Ducks, so one more species to add. But after I left the spot where I found most of the ducks and made my next stop, I was barely out of the car when the "hurricane" hit. I estimate 60 mph winds from zero in about 1 minute. And every gull on the lake blew by me in one big scrambled flock. I gave up on extending my count, because there were ducks scattering in all directions. But to prove the adage that "It's an ill wind that blows no good", the next bird that blew by behind the gulls was a sub-adult Bald Eagle. I haven't seen one in the area in months. I also had A Red-tail and a Red-shoulder (In my yard, about 150 yards from the lake). I saw no sign of the Greater Black-backed Gull(s) or the loon today but I did see something I've never seen before. The south end of the lake was still almost solidly frozen, but as I sat and watched, in about 5 minutes the white caps blowing in completely shattered the ice sheet and the surface of the lake was covered with small shards of ice, which all disappeared in the next 15 minutes. There is still a little ice in the northeast cove. Coventry lake, Final Count, 12-18-16 Ring-billed Gull 104 Herring Gull 13 Mute Swan 9 Canada Geese 61 Hooded Merganser 69 Common Merganser 102 Ring-necked Duck 5 Gadwall 2 Mallard 91 Ruddy Duck 2 Bald Eagle (sub-adult) 1 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 Don Morgan Coventry, Ct