Hi all, I made the trip down to Grandview (in Columbus) at lunch today, and scored big time with the Western Tanager, around 11:30 am. There were several other observers, but less than I would have expected for such a great rarity. Jen Sauter was kind enough to come by and pick me up, and when we got there the bird was present and easily observed. It seems fixated on the area where Fairview makes the 90 degree turn and becomes Merrick, as described in other posts. There are many fruiting bush honeysuckles, privet, and other berry shrubs, and the bird was eating these. It looks to be a 1st year or perhaps adult female, and is very dull overall. The undertail coverts are fairly bright yellowish-green, and this color is faintly suffused on the breast and head. The back is quite dull gray. The bill is perhaps the brightest part of the bird, and stands out fairly well. It is fairly bright orange. I also heard the bird call a number of times; the tone is that of a tanager, but it is a fairly rapid and less emphatic two or three note sound compared to a Scarlet Tanager. I got half a dozen or so decent photos. Probably the best bet if you seek this bird is to just station yourself right at that sharp bend in the road, and keep your eyes peeled. From what we saw, it will normally be down low in shrubs, at or below eye level, but on one occasion it flew high into a tree. Listen for its distinctive call, too - we found it once this way. It does not seem particularly shy. This must be the year of the Western Tanager - there were two confirmed records this spring; 12 May in Lucas County, and 19 April in Warren County. There was another report on 7 June in Sandusky County. Prior to this, I believe Ohio had only two accepted records, although there have been several other reports that were probably correct. As an interesting aside, when I was in New Jersey this past weekend, our crew found a Western Kingbird at Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge. When we later told some of the locals, they said it was the first of the season in NJ. They also immediately brought up birder extraordinaire Paul Lehman, who lives in Cape May, I believe, and has become incredibly adept at predicting the arrival of vagrant birds by evaluating weather patterns. They said Paul had essentially predicted a few days prior that western strays like that kingbird should show up on about the day we found ours. That timing correlates well with the appearance of this Western Tanager, too. Finally, thanks to Rob Thorn for finding this bird. If you get to see it, you'll be amazed that he found it at all. Most people would have completely overlooked it, I'm sure. Jim McCormac Columbus, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ 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]