My first Christmas Bird Count. For those of you who have never done one, I highly recommend it, regardless of your level of expertise. It is not your typical slow meander through a single habitat, but an all-out push to see as many birds as possible in a 15 mile radius circle, both in number of species and sheer numbers. "Every starling counts," as one birder told me. You might miss a lot - a Christmas Bird Count doesn't take the time to be sure that every birder sees every bird - but you will learn a lot, too. Every pair of eyes is useful. I was scanning across a lake while everybody else was counting Pied-billed Grebes and found a Great Blue Heron perched in a tree. At first glance, it looked like a dead branch, it was hidden so well. I went on the East Fork CBC (leader, Joe Bens) which includes the entire East Fork Lake, the State Park and Wildlife areas and the surrounding communities of Clermont County (DeLorme pg 75, D7 and 82, A3) We met at a fast-food restaurant in the middle of the circle, split into groups for the morning, checked back in at lunch, and went out again. I quit about 2pm, but the groups were going on till dusk, then meeting for a chili dinner and the final tally. My trip list, without numbers: (I missed some things) Canada Goose Mallard American Black Duck Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Ring-billed Gull Bonaparte's Gull Mourning Dove Red-headed Woodpecker Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Blue Jay American Crow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren Eastern Bluebird American Robin Cedar Waxwing Northern Mockingbird European Starling Yellow-rumped Warbler Eastern Towhee Song Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Northern Cardinal American Goldfinch I had 35 total species, including 5 species of woodpeckers, which I consider to be Very Good. (The group leader saw a yellow-bellied sapsucker and heard a hairy woodpecker, so I missed out on a 7-woodpecker-day. Oh well.) I saw a bird fly away that was identified as a sharp-shinned hawk, but I didn't see enough to make a positive ID myself. Since sharpies are one of my nemesis birds and this would be a Lifer for me, my own personal rules forbid me from counting this one. I also missed the Cooper's hawk somehow, but I did see a "Great Blue Eagle." During a brief pause, I was scanning around and saw a large bird with a wide wingspan taking off from a low perch. The way the light hit it, I first saw dark wings and a large light patch. I yelled "BALD EAGLE," which got everyone's attention, until the bird straightened out and it was obvious that it was a great blue heron, not an eagle. Our "recording secretary" teased me about my "Great Blue Eagle" the rest of the day. (And, I think it will be a while before I live that one down!) So, just remember, it doesn't matter how good you are, it doesn't mtter what birds you miss or even what birds you invent, get out and do a CBC in your area. ~Kathi Kathi Hutton Felicity, Clermont Co. Delorme pg 82, B3 Lat. 38.828, Lon. -84.063 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]