Friday, I went to Resthaven hoping to see the Osprey on its nest but instead found that the snag it had been using for the last few years is gone. Has anyone found a new Osprey nest in the area? Since these Ospreys have proven it is good habitat for them, perhaps ODNR could construct a nesting platform to entice them to nest there again. This morning, I checked out the Great Egret rookery on Turning Point Island on the west side of downtown Sandusky. (see info at the bottom of Medusa Marsh description at _http://www.ohiobirds.org/birdingsites/showsite.php?Site_ID=17_ (http://www.ohiobirds.org/birdingsites/showsite.php?Site_ID=17) This once magnificent rookery has been taken over by Double Crested Cormorants but some egrets have continued to nest there, relegated to inferior sites low in the trees (and probably showered by cormorant feces). It was difficult to determine if I was counting actual nests or if some of the birds may have just been roosting in the trees but I counted forty six possible Great Egret nests. There was also a Great Blue Heron on a nest and a Black-crowned Night-Heron that appeared to be on a nest. I wish I had kept a record of the decline of this rookery. In 2000 it was an amazing sight with the trees full of egret nests. Now the cormorant guano is killing the vegetation and displacing the egrets. Without some type of wildlife management, I fear for the future of waders in our area. Most of the waterfowl seems to have moved on but proceeding west along Sandusky Bay to Lions Park in the distance I could see one Canvasback, a few small rafts of Ruddy Ducks and scaup, and a few Common and Red-breasted Mergansers. As I was approaching Medusa Marsh about noon, two Trumpeter Swans flew in from the lake, calling as they flew as if to confirm my ID. I drove past two resident Mute Swans in the vegetated wetlands before spotting the Trumpeter Swans swimming in the main impoundment. They had joined a third Trumpeter, and that bird had the definitive Ohio field mark - a green collar. When I drove past again, ten minutes later, only one Trumpeter was present. Also seen were four Horned Grebes. The flooded corn field to the west of the main impoundment held a few Ring-necked Ducks, a Blue-winged Teal, some American Coots and a Northern Shoveler. Sheryl Young Sandusky ************************************** 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]