Hello everyone, I just wanted to add a few comments to what Bill and Margaret have already said about the blockbusting event that I organized in southern Ohio last weekend. First of all I want to thank everyone who participated. We gathered evidence for nearly 100 species of breeding birds and put in nearly 90 hours of survey time. That is a huge accomplishment for a single weekend! Thanks also go out Kari Kirschbaum, the biologist at Wayne National Forest, she arranged for us to have free camping at the Lake Vesuvius campground. It was one of the nicer places I have camped at. Now on to the birds. The highlight of the weekend was definetely the finding of 4 adult Yellow-crowned Night Herons in a Gallia county pond. After talking to the landowner we found out that one bird was there all of last summer. He is going to look for a nest or juvenile birds so that we can confirm breeding. Other highlights were a White-throated Sparrow in full song, Blue Grosbeak, Summer Tanager, Osprey, and all of the breeding warblers. It was a great weekend that accomplished a huge amount in a short time. I feel that in order to meet the goal of surveying every block in the state, events like this are essential. This weekend was sponsored by the Columbus Avid Birders and I challenge all bird clubs and organizations to do the same. Also, this project is not just for experienced birders, beginning birders can contribute as well. When you atlas you move at a slow place and have to make careful observations which is a great way to learn how to ID birds. The Breeding Bird Atlas is a great project and will give us much insight into the population trends of the birds. Knowing these trends will be a tremenduos aid to conservation. Atlasing is an enjoyable way to give something back to our avian friends that we enjoy so much! Brad Sparks Regional Coordinator OBBAII ____________________________________________________________________________________ Luggage? GPS? Comic books? Check out fitting gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=graduation+gifts&cs=bz ______________________________________________________________________ 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]