Stopped by for a 20 minute jaunt up from the parking lot of Ira Trailhead to the Beaver Marsh: -- yellow warbler -- yellow rumped warbler -- first Baltimore Oriole of the spring -- ruby crowned kinglet -- blue gray gnatcatcher -- tree swallows -- belted kingfisher -- wood duck pairs and the rest of the usuals... A quick walk up Dike Road this morning -- yellow rumped warbler -- black and white warbler -- black throated green warbler -- common yellowthroat -- warbling vireo -- eastern kingbird -- ruby crowned kinglet -- white throated sparrow -- white crowned sparrow -- chipping sparrow -- house wren -- the mute swan was on her nest at the end of Dike Road and Sunnybrook -- double-crested cormorant -- american coot -- red breasted merganser (the common loons have left the reservoir) and the usuals BIGGEST EVENT: Watching a garter snake for about 25 minutes trying to swallow a big beefy bullfrog alive. -- "Look at the birds..." Matthew 6:26 I look at the birds because I believe they will carry the messages of my heart upward to our Creator. I look at them because I believe in their existence, the way their songs begin and end each day–the invocations and the benedictions to God Himself. I look to the birds because they remind me of what I love rather than what I fear. And that God's eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me! ______________________________________________________________________ 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]