Hello Everybirdy, What a spectacular week we have had in Auglaize/Mercer Counties!! First of all, we (Ohio Division of Wildlife personnel and five of our grandchildren, plus many others) banded several hundred Canada Geese around Grand Lake St Marys! This is always and exciting time for us and our grandkids. They all love getting p---ed on ;-) Well, maybe they don't EXACTLY "love" it -- fun!! Then, today, members of TriMoraine Audubon Society and friends joined Jim McCormac to trek along the St Marys River Corridor. Jim identified this area as his #3 Spot in OHIO!! And it is in MY BACKYARD!!!! Oh, what wonders did we see!! I know to note all the plants, will have me in tears because Jim speaks an unknown language when identifying many of the plants (Miss Codington never taught us those terms in Latin I & II) but to note a few - Please excuse me if I have mis-named some - I hope I haven't made too many errors! Squirreltail Barley Eastern Cottonwood tree Ravenfoot Sedge Hops Sedge Fox sedge Halberd leaf (Rose Mallow) This is a RARE plant according to Jim Pigeon Grape Southern Blue Flag Indian Hemp Day Lilly (we called them Tiger Lillies when I was a kid) Mild Water Pepper Money Wort Short's sedge Mermaid weed Lake Cress (Jim stated this is the ONLY reliable spot in Ohio to find this plant) Wild Petunia Water Plantain Swamp DOC American Elm Shaggy Bark Elm Davis' Sedge Swamp Oak Gray sedge Pineapple weed Hairy fruited sedge Straw sedge Water Hemlock Anemone Leafy Blue Iris St John's wort And I didn't write all of them down!! Now for some of the birds we noted: Indigo Bunting Warbling Vireo Eastern Wood Pewee White breasted Nuthatch Redbellied woodpecker Bluegray Gnatcatcher Red headed woodpecker Carolina Wren Redwing blackbird Dicksissel Horned Lark Great crested flycatcher Northern Parula Yellow billed cuckoo Phoebe Yellow throated vireo (carrying food!!) Redbreasted grosbeak Robin Ruby throated hummingbird Great blue heron Northern Oriole Killdeer And my story doesn't end there!! We also saw a River Otter, Looper worms, Lady bug larva, LARGE crayfish "volcanoes" Red Admiral caterpillars & chrysalis, and we watched a newly hatched RA pumping his wings!! Many dragon flies and a Wolf spider with her egg sac Oh, and a RWBB with four eggs. Of course, I took many photos as did others, so we will have proof of what we saw. Tri-Moraine AS (with help from Audubon Ohio and others) is developing a "project" for the SMR and hope to get a "plan" but first, we must inventory the area. If anyone is interested in assisting us with this project ---- YOU WILL BE MOST APPRECIATED!! But please don't tell many people about this spot! If the secret gets out -- who knows who might come to see!! Much of the land we trekked along is private, so please be respectful, if you come. Enjoy, Jill Bowers ______________________________________________________________________ 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]