I crossed paths with Irene at Sandy Ridge and would like to add one thing
to her great post.   Rusty blackbirds were everywhere there today.   At one
point a flock of well over 50 of them dropped out of the sky into two trees
right in front of me and started squawking away.  There were also several,
in all stages of color, walking around in mud puddles just after the
entrance to the woods.   If you're looking for an opportunity to see and
hear Rusties, this is the time and place for them.

The biggest birding highlight of my day had nothing to do with Sandy Ridge,
though.   On my way home, I was on 90, near the border of Rocky River and
Lakewood, and a wild turkey decided to cross the road.   It just walked
right out onto the highway in front of me.  I slammed on the brakes, but it
had no intention of speeding up until the very last minute, when it finally
decided it would be a good idea to fly the rest of the way across the
highway.  Menwhile, someone behind me wasn't paying attention and only
manged not to hit me because he or she snuck past me at full speed in he
breakdown lane.   Whew.  I've often been warned, not exactly jokingly, that
someday I'd get in a birding-related car accident, but I thought it would
be a case of me staring into a tree, trying to figure out which kind of
hawk was sitting there, and rear-ending someone, not me almost getting
rear-ended because I didn't want to hit a bird!   This is no April Fool's
joke; it's a true story!

Aaron Milenski
Lakewood

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