Friday evening offered cold temperatures, periodic snow, and good birds at Spring Valley. The impoundment contained a few hundred coots, with dozens to hundreds of northern rough- winged swallows and tree swallows patrolling the water's surface and grabbing the occasional snack. From the south parking lot, we saw a mixed flock of gulls in the air that included ring-billed, herring, and what we were fairly certain were FRANKLINS GULL. Other waterbirds included Canada goose, blue-winged teal, pie-billed grebe, mute swan, and wood duck. We saw a pair of yellow-rumped warblers in small shrubs along the shoreline. They looked a little disheveled, suggesting that they were very recent arrivals. There were a few rusty blackbirds in and among the tens of thousands of red-wing blackbirds. As the sun set, they covered the branches of sycamore trees, calling relentlessly. Occasionally flocks would errupt, fly a circle or two around the boardwalk, and then settle down again. They were so numerous they blocked out the sun at times. Others making an appearance included: starling, cardinal, white-breasted nuthatch, Carolina chickadee, song sparrow, eastern towhee, turkey vulture. Surprisingly, we saw no woodpeckers. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]