Although I left too early to see the Western Tanager make its appearance I did get to see a nice male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker with an interesting nape. This guy was very cooperative when I was there before the others arrived, he was making a lot of noise calling loudly his "neeyahh" repeatedly. He was on the large deciduous tree near the road at the same corner the tanager was seen. I observed it for some time as this individual had a certain noteworthiness to it, namely it had a good deal of red on the nape. Yet I don't believe it to be a red-naped sapsucker. First of all the bird's throat did not have the extended red sides that overlap the black malar line as do most red-naped. It did have a red throat, but the malar line was distinct and all black as far as I could see and I got views of all angles. Secondly the bird's back did not have the increased black feathers of a Red-naped, nor did it have the white markings arranged into the rough 2 lines, with the black central stripe marking of a red-naped. The back was typical Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, with noticable buffy tones to the white feathers that were arranged in a messy 'mish-mash' on the bird's mantle and rump. So noting the above I decided that it was simply one of the variant colored Y.b. Sapsuckers that do occur from time to time. After meeting John there I tried to relocate the bird as we walked by where it had been, but was unable to do so. It must have flown off or have been keeping a low profile as I couldn't hear it any longer either. The reason for this may have been the Cooper's Hawk I saw as i was leaving. A mourning dove and a Cardinal scattered as the raptor flew into the scene. While impressive as these birds are, I can't say I welcomed the sight of it here in the vicinity of a rare passerine hot-spot. Keep your eyes peeled little tanager. Other birds seen included White-throated Sparrows, Junco's, House Sparrows, C. Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Starlings, Robins, Goldfinches, and a Gull of somekind probably Ring-billed. Nice work Casey with the photo's. I'll see if I get lucky tomorrow after-noon when I can get down there. I am leading a bird walk at the BFEC of Kenyon College in Gambier OH, Knox Co. tomorrow morning if anyone is nearby and would like to Join us at 8:00-9:00am. They meet every wednesday at this time and its always fun to watch the birds that show up. You can search the web for directions, just google BFEC and you'll find the site for the Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon College. Stay tuned.... Good Birding, - 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]