A female Rose-breasted Grosbeak showed up in our backyard today Apr 10 about 12:30.  It must have been just passing through since we have not seen it since.  I checked the Ohio Listserv and didn't see any previous postings for this species this year.  This is certainly the earliest ever spring sighting for us in this area.  Surprising with the cold weather up until now.  We got a good look at it, and no, it wasn't a purple finch, though that would have been nice, too.
 
Starting with last Saturday, the birds have been fairly decent in our backyard.  The list includes:
 
Pine Siskins  2 m&f
Fox Sparrows 4  all at same time
Chipping Sparrow 2
Tree Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow   a few
Song Sparrow  a few
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
 
Our male Goldfinches, of which we have many, are about 80 to 90 % into breeding plumage now.
 
John & Ann Edwards
Rocky River
Cuyahoga County

______________________________________________________________________

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]