Well me and Dan Sanders went looking for some birds today. We were trying for the White-winged Scoter at Caesar Creek State Park, we stopped several places where it had been seen and we struck out. Not many gulls on the beach either. Oh well, we still got to see some cool birds there; Redhead - 20 Ringneck Duck- 10+ Scaup (lesser? too far out) - 10+ Horned Grebe - 15+ including one right in front of us really close Common Loon - 3 Cormorant, D.C Blue Jay N. Mockingbird E. Towhee Junco Darkeyed Cedar Waxwing Cardinal Am Robin Goldfinch Carolina Wren - 5 Bonaparte's Gull - 2 Ringbilled Gull - 20ish Canada Geese We then headed out to check real quick if we could see the reported Rufous Hummer at Cheri M.'s place, near Dayton. Thanks Cheri for letting us come, and I must say you have a regular bird haven around your house there. We also enjoyed seing the local Albino Squirrel (gray squirrel). Anyways we walked up and were trying to decide where would be the best place to stand and in swooped the hummer to the butterfly bush where it hovered a couple seconds. I could easily see the buffy sides/flanks from 10 feet away or so and then it zoomed off. So we set at the picnic table and waited for a while. Finally it zoomed in and landed on another butterfly bush in the corner of the yard where I had a good look thru the bino's. It was kinda facing me and I'd definately say it looked like a female Rufous, with a few colored feathers on the gorget, green crown area and on down the back , plus the distinctly buffy sides and even the belly was pretty buffy. But then it zoomed away again not to be seen again as we waited for another 20 min. Oh well I had to get to class. Now after class as I sit here on CSCC's campus in this lovely weather underneath some sycamore trees I am surrounded by White-throated Sparrows , 1 song Sparrow, and Cardinals all pecking and scratching around under the Yew hedges. Can't imagine a better setting to post from. Enjoy, - Ben Warner ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more. ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. 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]