Saw-whet owls finally arrived this past weekend. 2 were banded on Friday and 2 banded on Saturday. Ohio has 6 Northern Saw-whet Owl monitoring stations. Only 3 have captured birds this fall and only 14 birds. This is below normal numbers for this date. Most have been hatch year females. Either the owls are late or not coming to Ohio this winter. I will be back on the island to band the next two weekends. Hopefully things pick up. One unusual note was an Eastern Phoebe which was captured in the owl nets on Sunday night. It was caught well after dark. Who knows what it was doing flying around in the dark??? Observational Highlights: Common Loon 100+; numbers picking up each day Horned Grebe 150+; numbers picking up each day Surf Scoter 11 Black Scoter 5 Merlin an adult bird observed 11/5 at the Scheele Preserve Greater Yellowlegs 2 on eastside all weekend Sanderling 2 on 11/3 southside and 3 on 11/5 eastside Common Tern 5+ on 11/3 Long-eared Owl 1 on 11/3 Northern Saw-whet 2 on 11/3 and 2 on 11/4 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2 on 11/4 Wood Thrush 1 bird on 11/5; photographed by Shane Roberts Common Yellowthroat 1 at Scheele Preserve on 11/5 Pine Siskin 1 on 11/4 Total of 75 species observed on the island over the weekend. A flock (45+)of Dunlin were observed on Marblehead 11/3 at the ferry dock. Double-crested Cormorant numbers are as high as ever. The flights are almost spectacular. Tom Bartlett Tiffin, Ohio [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ 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]