A great day to get out and just enjoy. Cookie (my "bird dog") and I walked the western 2.26 miles of the Black Hand Gorge bike trail. Most of the common winter birds were much in evidence: Belted kingfisher - one male and one female, more than a mile apart White-breasted nuthatches - many Carolina chickadees - many Golden-crowned kinglets - many heard, at least 7 seen Brown creepers - at least 8 counted, more heard Downy woodpeckers - at least 11 counted Pileated woodpecker - one, heard only Red-bellied woodpecker - one seen, another heard Carolina wren - two heard only Blue jays and crows - seen and heard Canada geese - many overhead (one flock of 75+) and in the adjacent cornfields The feral geese that have lived along the river for a couple of years are still there, or at least two of them are. There were 7 or 8 of them, graylag and hybrids, that all seemed to hang out together with a couple of Canadas that seemed to have been injured. Today, I first heard, and then saw, just the two. Of more interest, however, were the two birds on and near the horned owl nest where the bald eagles attempted to nest last March. I only had my light-weight binoculars, and with the overcast light, could not positively identify these birds. However, my inclination is that these may be the horned owls, as I definitely did NOT see any white. The one on the limb stretched its wings while I was watching, but it was partially blocked from view by branches. If immature bald eagles were hunched . Anyway, intriguing. I hope to get out tomorrow with my scope for a better look from across Route 16, but there were definitely two very large birds, one on the nest, and another on a limb a short distance away, and barely visible from the bike path. (Last spring, in good light, I could definitely see the bald eagle on the nest from the bike path, and identify it clearly as such. That's why I'm thinking that these may not be the eagles, but perhaps the return of the horned owls.) Margaret Bowman Licking Co., OH ______________________________________________________________________ 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]