I thought I should post a few interesting eT=ncounters I've had over the last few days... Monday (3/26) I went to the Longbrake Wetlands in Hardin County in search of early shorebirds. All I found were Killdeer, but I did manage to see a MERLIN that flushed most of the waterfowl (of which I saw 17 species, none of which were unusual). I also received word from Scott Kimball that a few days ago he got extended good looks at a dark-morph WESTERN RED-TAILED HAWK from I-70 east of Columbus. He was at the intersection of I-70 and Cooks Hill Rd. (CR-288), 6.3 miles east of I-70's intersection with Route 13. Don't know if it's sticking around, but it was interacting with a normal eastern red-tail. Today (3/28) I had a nice early spring experience at Lobdell Reserve, a Licking County Park District park in Alexandria, OH. I was playing the disc golf course there, and had a few early-singing birds including Brown Thrasher, Eastern Phoebe, Field Sparrow, and 2 different LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSHES. Mmmmmm....waterthrushes in March. Good birding, John -- John Kuenzli Columbus, 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]