Over the weekend the OOS held its annual conference, this year at Mohican State Park (with some notable field trips to Richland and Holmes counties).  With a weekend total of I believe 156 species, the bird highlights were many, and included field trips that saw over 20 species of warblers (I think 25 was the highest number I heard) and others that were able to peer into a nesting box and watch young barn owls!  
 
My group was led by Steve McKee with Greg Miller and I assisting, and many of our highlights were in seeing (or hearing) some of the unique nesters in the old-growth native pine/hemlock/chestnut oak ridges that comprise the Clear Fork Natural Area Preserve.  We saw blackburnian warblers and purple finches, and heard winter wrens, Canadian warblers, and even a junco.  All of these have been known to nest at Mohican, well south of their normal breeding grounds.
 
Our best bird might have been on Saturday, when we got excellent views of a yellow-bellied flycatcher.  On Sunday, we had eye-level views of a northern parula close enough to see clearly even without binoculars.
 
In non-birding notes, the astronomy program on Friday night offered breathtaking views of Saturn and 3 of its moons as well as Mercury, Venus, several constellations, and M13 - a stunning globular cluster of 1/2 million stars in the Hercules formation.  The bat program was equally successful, with little brown and long eared bats captured both nights.  On our field trips, we found 4 species of salamander (red-spotted newt, two-lined, red-backed, and slimy) and also saw a hairy-tailed mole. 
 
I can't do the botanical diversity justice here, but suffice it to say it was amazing, as were the guest speakers.
 
Planning for next year's conference will start soon - I feel safe in saying that there will be no disappointment if it is held at Mohican one more time!
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