I spent Sunday morning at one of my favorite birding sites, Crooked Run
Nature Preserve.  This is a tiny place, only 77 acres, on the Ohio River in Chilo,
SE Clermont County.  What it lacks in size it makes up for in atmosphere,
habitat, and birds. There is a small wetlands area, woods, meadow, the river, and
a unique feature, the Crooked Run estuary, which often holds interesting
waterfowl.  I think they have counted about 200 species of birds that have been
seen here, and several of my Life Birds come from this little spot about 5 miles
from my home.

Sunday's weather was my favorite for birding, crisp, cold, clear, with very
little wind.  Unfortunately, somebody forgot to tell the birds I was coming, as
it was a bit slow.  I heard some species that I didn't see, which is
disappointing since I am still very much a visual birder.  Still, it was good to be
out and I did get to see my FOS (that's First Of the Season) HERMIT THRUSH.

My "pishing" technique (making a "psss-psss-psss" noise to attract birds)
must be improving.  Normally, I am only able to get White-throated Sparrows to
pop up when I pish, but yesterday, I also attracted Golden-crowned Kinglets,
Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Carolina Chickadees.

Trip List:  Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher (both along the estuary),
Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker (and a call that I
thought might be a Hairy Woodpecker, but not sure), Carolina Chickadee, Tufted
Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch (heard only),  Yellow-rumped Warblers,
Golden-crowned Kinglets (these 2 species hanging out together), American Crow, Blue
Jay, White-throated and Song Sparrows, HERMIT THRUSH, Carolina Wren, Northern
Cardinal, American Goldfinch.

Target birds were yellow-bellied sapsucker, brown creeper, and red-breasted
nuthatch, but I didn't find any of those.

Regarding locations:  I appreciate titles that give an idea where in Ohio the
poster is from - "Cleveland," "Lake Erie," "Columbus" etc.  I know some
counties, but not all.  I like signatures that give an idea where the poster is
from, too.  To that end, I try to lead all my titles with "SW Ohio."  If it is
general birding, I say "SW Ohio Birding," if my focus is on waterfowl, I say "SW
Ohio Waterfowl," etc.  That way, someone in Toledo or Cleveland might elect
to skip my post (unless they were planning a trip to SW Ohio.)  My signature
includes my name, my town, my county, my lat./long. (which I learned for use
with data collection for cavity nesting birds like bluebirds and for the Breeding
Bird Atlas.), and my DeLorme Ohio Atlas coordinates.  (For those who don't
know, the DeLorme Ohio Atlas is the standard map used by birders on this list.)
I have this signature set up on my e-mail program - with one click, it is all
there.

For directions to the birding "hot spots" like Magee Marsh or Killdeer
Plains, I don't think it is fair to make the poster write it all out each time they
post (and would be boring to read, as well.)  The reader could do some of the
work.  As Jen (I think?) pointed out, the OOS web site gives tons of infor
mation on many, many birding spots throughout the state, if people only took the
time to look it up.  Also, you should be able to search for any of these spots,
using Google or another search engine.  Directions WITHIN the park or
preserve would be much better than "in the usual place."

Regarding abbreviations, I do find it confusing to read h. grebe, HOGE, or
"the usual grebes" instead of Horned Grebe.  If you are writing about a species
and repeating its name frequently, it is OK to write Horned Grebe (HOGE) and
then use the abbreviation the rest of time.  However, again, I don't think the
reader has to be spoon-fed.  If you read the listserv long enough, you can
learn most of this on your own (as I did) or you can ask questions, like "What do
you mean by FOS? (as I also did.)  Learned requires input from the student as
well as the teacher.

Respectfully submitted,
~Kathi

Kathi Hutton
Felicity, Clermont Co.
Delorme pg 82, B3
Lat. 38.828, Lon. -84.063

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