A couple of weeks ago, I asked for help with ideas of places to lead a mid-March field trip & got quite a few suggestions. I also got a couple of requests to let the rest of the list-serve know what these suggestions were. So here goes, in no particular order. Barb Kooser, naturalist at Mentor Marsh Nature Center suggested Mentor Lagoons, Shipman pond on the eastern end of the marsh, Headlands Beach & the mouth of the Grand River...I believe that is Fairport Harbor. Helen Ostermiller suggested Wellington Upground Reservoir in Lorain County. Glen Crippen suggested The Wilds & gave me a [log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask]) . Thank you Glen for the contact & thank you Al for the information you sent me. Sheryl Young gave me help & infor for Castalia Pond & the Castalia Fish Hatchery. Bill Whan, in addition to giving thoughts on the places already mentioned, also suggested Ottawa NWR auto tour; Funk Bottoms & Killbuck Marsh in Wayne Co with a side trip to find the nearby Harris' Sparrow in Tuscarawas Co.; Pymatuning Lake & Presque Isle in PA.; Berlin Lake in Stark Co. Brian Zwiebel suggested Castalia, Pickerel Creek, Medusa Marsh & the old Sandusky Bay bridge access. Kim Kaufman suggested a joint venture with the Ohio Young Birders Club to Mosquito Creek Reservoir, Trumbel Co. One of their members, Ethan Kistler who often posts here, lives near there & would make a great guide. A fine idea & while we weren't able to swing that this time I hope to make that a possibility in the future. Harriet Alger told me what had been seen at Avon Lakes Power Plant recently. Bob Faber suggested some other western PA sites: Geneva Marsh, Erie National Wildlife Refuge & French Creek Tim Mason suggested Dawes Arboretum, _www.dawesarb.org_ (http://www.dawesarb.org) , in Licking Co. He is Natural Resources Manager there & provided some very helpful information. Rob Thorn suggested a 'Big Loop' including many of the places already mentioned & also including such places as Sheldon Marsh, the jetty at Lorain, Rocky River & E. 72 St in Cleveland Most of these places I was already familiar with to varying degrees but some I have never heard of before & am looking forward to learning more about them. Thanks once again to all who responded. I hope this list helps others discover some new birding venues. In case you're interested, the final decision (& boy was it a hard one to make), based at least to some extent on the weather predictions for several areas, is Metzger Marsh &the auto tour at Ottawa Laura Dornan Louisville, Stark County. ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]