Hello! My apologies for the late posting, but my wife and I and Ken and Julie Davis visited Spring Valley WA this past Saturday from ~9 AM to ~2:45 PM. We started at the boardwalk to the observation tower, then followed the path clockwise along the wetlands to the parking area at the south end and double backed. We saw and/or heard the following "notable" birds : Lesser Yellowlegs-heard 1 calling nearby as we got out of the car Little Blue Heron-flew by the tower, circled around, and landed back in the wetlands Virginia Rail- saw 3 (great looks at 2 out in the open), heard 2 Sora-saw 4, heard 10+ Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher-saw 12, heard several Swamp Sparrow-2 Eastern Phoebe Tree Swallow-4 Blue-Winged Teal-16+ Wood Duck-6 White-Throated Sparrow-5 Osprey Belted Kingfisher-pair Coot-a few hundred Red-Shouldered Hawk-pair soaring overhead Northern Shoveler-male Northern Rough-Winged Swallow-3 Gadwall-8 American Wigeon-male Ring-Necked Duck-4 Ruby-Crowned Kinglet Eastern Towhee Yellow-Rumped Warbler-saw 12, heard several singing Northern Parula-heard 1 singing then got great looks up close at south end of wetlands Palm Warbler-saw 1 at south end of wetlands Yellow-Throated Warbler-saw/heard 1 in sycamores at SW end of wetlands Pileated Woodpecker-landed in tree as we were leaving for the day We did not see or hear any American Bitterns but were told by some members of a birding group that 2 pairs were seen before our arrival. On our way home, we saw 9 Chimney Swifts flying over I-71 North at the Stringtown Road exit. Saturday evening (4/21) at Highbanks Metro Park in southern Delaware County, I heard then saw a Yellow-Throated Warbler in the sycamores along the Olentangy River. As I awoke Sunday morning (4/22) at home just north of Highbanks, I was greeted by the singing of our resident House Wren who apparently dropped in overnight for the season. He quickly checked out one of the Bluebird houses that we put up in our back yard this year. Later Sunday evening (4/22), my wife and I visited the Glacier Ridge Metro Park wetlands area just northwest of Columbus where the following birds were seen and/or heard: Green-Winged Teal-9 Northern Shoveler-8 Blue-Winged Teal-~20 Ruddy Duck-9 Sora-heard 3 Coot-75+ Hooded Merganser-2 females Ring-Necked Duck-4 pairs Eastern Meadowlark-great looks at 2 singing Tree Swallow-25+ Barn Swallow-5 Northern Rough-Winged Swallow-3 Dunlin-4 Lesser Yellowlegs-saw 21 heard several more Greater Yellowlegs Pectoral Sandpiper-10 Kestrel Killdeer-8 Pied-Billed Grebe-10 Red-Winged Blackbird-at dusk, several hundred to over 1000 settling down in the wetlands for the evening with some Starlings and a few Grackles mixed in. Most of the waterfowl were in the wetlands that can be observed from the "grassy knoll" next to the parking area and a scope is helpful. All of the shorebirds were in the flooded fields northwest of the observation tower. We saw several more shorebirds land in the area, and the numbers reported are only what I was able to see and positively ID. Spring Valley WA is in Greene and Warren Counties with a map available at the ODNR-Div of Wildlife web site, whereas directions to Highbanks and Glacier Ridge can be found at _www.metroparks.net_ (http://www.metroparks.net) . Rob Lowry Powell, Ohio ************************************** See what's free 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]