Hello everyone,
I just wanted to add a few comments to what Bill and
Margaret have already said about the blockbusting
event that I organized in southern Ohio last weekend.
First of all I want to thank everyone who
participated.  We gathered evidence for nearly 100
species of breeding birds and put in nearly 90 hours
of survey time.  That is a huge accomplishment for a
single weekend!  Thanks also go out Kari Kirschbaum,
the biologist at Wayne National Forest, she arranged
for us to have free camping at the Lake Vesuvius
campground.  It was one of the nicer places I have
camped at.
Now on to the birds.  The highlight of the weekend was
definetely the finding of 4 adult Yellow-crowned Night
Herons in a Gallia county pond.  After talking to the
landowner we found out that one bird was there all of
last summer.  He is going to look for a nest or
juvenile birds so that we can confirm breeding.  Other
highlights were a White-throated Sparrow in full song,
Blue Grosbeak, Summer Tanager, Osprey, and all of the
breeding warblers.
It was a great weekend that accomplished a huge amount
in a short time.  I feel that in order to meet the
goal of surveying every block in the state, events
like this are essential.  This weekend was sponsored
by the Columbus Avid Birders and I challenge all bird
clubs and organizations to do the same.  Also, this
project is not just for experienced birders, beginning
birders can contribute as well.  When you atlas you
move at a slow place and have to make careful
observations which is a great way to learn how to ID
birds.
The Breeding Bird Atlas is a great project and will
give us much insight into the population trends of the
birds. Knowing these trends will be a tremenduos aid
to conservation.  Atlasing is an enjoyable way to give
something back to our avian friends that we enjoy so
much!

Brad Sparks
Regional Coordinator OBBAII


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Luggage? GPS? Comic books?
Check out fitting gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=graduation+gifts&cs=bz

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]