I spent most of yesterday in Ashtabula Co.  Started at Conneaut harbor, birds there included red-breasted mergansers, 55 double-crested cormorants, an adult black-crowned night-heron, 800 Bonaparte's gulls, 5 great black-backed gulls, 18 Caspian terns, belted kingfisher, n. flicker, n. rough-winged swallow, e. towhee, swamp sparrow, and dark-eyed junco.  Next I did some exploring and OBBA2 scouting in Richmond Twp. and found wild turkey, e. phoebe, winter wren, ruby-crowned kinglets, blue-gray gnatcatcher, e. bluebird, field sparrow, and puple finch.  I witnessed a behavior by a song sparrow that was new to me.  It scooted by right in front of me with it's wings held up awkwardly.  It looked like a distraction display, similar to something a killdeer would do.  I must have been very close to the nest!  I let it lead me away and left in peace.  Then I went to Orwell Marsh, it held 2 trumpeter swans, wood ducks, 7 blue-winged teal, 12
 green-winged teal, pied-billed grebe, 5 greater yellowlegs, 7 lesser yellowlegs, 8 pectoral sandpipers, and 2 Wilson's snipe.  During the day's travels in Ashtabula and Trumbull Counties I saw bald eagle, Cooper's hawk, Am. kestrels, horned larks, barn swallows, and e. meadowlarks.  Around home in Poland Twp., Mahoning Co. the last few days birds of interest included sharp-shinned hawk, red-shouldered hawk, house wren, and purple finches.  Craig Holt, Lowellville




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