Much needed exercise, and a few birds to be had late this afternoon at Black Hand Gorge: Canada geese - 6 Belted kingfisher - 1 Red-bellied woodpecker - 1 Downy woodpecker - 4, 3 females with a loose flock, and one solo male Pileated woodpecker - 1 Eastern phoebe - pair working over flooded floodplain Carolina chickadee - 2 Tufted titmouse -1 White-breasted nuthatch - 4, seemingly together in a loose flock Brown creeper - 3, all in same tree - do they migrate together? Blue jay - 1 seen, others heard American crow - X European starling - XX Eastern towhee - 1; they are starting to call now, too Fox sparrow - #66 March 2007 bird for Licking Co. Song sparrow - 2, plus others singing Dark-eyed junco - at least 4 in a loose "flock" Northern cardinal - 2 Red-winged blackbird - XX Common grackle - XX I spent a long time studying the small, loose flock that contained four nuthatches, three downies, the brown creepers, two chickadees and a titmouse, but still did not locate a golden-crowned kinglet for the month. Usually they travel with these other winter birds, so I was pretty disappointed. That was a lot of work to come up empty. However, read on: The fox sparrow was a surprise, and my dog alerted me to its presence when she went into her hunting stance. I finally detected the movement in the tangle of weeds and brush, was surprised to discover it was not a rodent, and eventually got a good enough look to satisfy myself on the identification. It was my first BHG fox sparrow, as well, I believe, although I didn't keep track of non-lifebirds at BHG until the past couple of years. This "lot of work" was rewarded! I was not able to see the eagle nest well enough from the bike path to determine for certain, but I believe one of the eagles was on the nest. I didn't drive up to Marne Rd., which is the better vantage point, to check. Other birds of note: a great blue heron flying over downtown Newark! A kestrel hovering in a harvested field across from God's Acres Church and Campground, on Route 79 at the edge of Newark, just south of the intersection with Cedar Run Road. This is getting pretty close to town, and I was a little surprised. And, to correct my error in yesterday's post: the ducks at Dawes were indeed redheads (not rednecks), although there were probably some non-feathered rednecks around as well. After all, I do live in "Nerk". (It's nice to know that some people actually take an interest in Licking Co. birds.) Margaret Bowman ______________________________________________________________________ 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]