Today around 5:30pm a friend and I discovered a female MERLIN on Calla Rd. in Mahoning county. This is either Beaver or Green Township. We saw the bird twice. As we made our first apporach the sun was behind it, making identification difficult. As we slowly passed it, however, the bird flew down onto the road about 15 ft behind us and ran about for a bit before returning to its lookout. We had great looks with the low sun perfectly illuminating every detail. We didn't think it could get much better, but on our way back we spotted it again on a different pole, and this time it was feeding on what appeared to be a horned lark. It was not skittish, allowing us to park right next to it and watch it eat. It was truly an awesome encounter. I managed to obtain some (mediocre) video and pictures. As I said this was an impromptu trip and I did not have the proper equipment with me to take better pics unfortunatley. In any case this is a rare visitor for Mahoning (first I've seen anyways). I will be posting the pics and vid on Rarebird.org, in the NE Ohio forum, if anyone is interested. Also, earlier today I observed a large flock of waxwings on Logan rd in Youngstown. I didn't have my bins so scanning for rarities wasn't an option, but while I was watching them a Red-shouldered hawk made a successful pass at the flock. Exciting stuff. Overall I had a great day of birding without really trying. It's cold, but I can feel spring right around the corner. John G. Petruzzi _________________________________________________________________ Check out all that glitters with the MSN Entertainment Guide to the Academy Awards® http://movies.msn.com/movies/oscars2007/?icid=ncoscartagline2 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]