Hello, My dad has been in town from Utah for a couple days, so we've been trying to squeeze in some birding along with family time. Yesterday afternoon, we all went over to the Park of Roses in Columbus to enjoy the flowers and hopefully see some birds at the same time. Here's what we saw besides the common stuff: PINE SISKINS - 4 flew right over our heads, calling, with obvious yellow windows in wings and base of tail Magnolia Warbler - 1 Blackpoll Warbler - 1 Am. Redstart - 2 Pewee - 1 Early this morning, my dad and I spent a couple hours at the Hoover mudflats (Wiese Rd and Boardwalk). There was pretty good activity, making the trip worthwhile. I guess my $89-spotting-scope saved me some dough but cost me some ID's--a lot of small sandpipers went unidentified. If money grew on trees, a nice scope would be the first thing I'd buy! Here's what we came up with: Killdeer - 15ish Semipalmated Plover - 20ish American Golden-Plover - 1 Pectoral Sandpiper - 2 Yellowlegs (mostly Greater, some Lesser) - 12ish Unidentified small, brownish/grayish sandpipers - 30ish one of these was doing a lot of smooth running, like a sanderling, but I couldn't see it well enough to be sure) We then took off for Blendon Woods hoping to add some warblers to my dad's life list, but it was even deader than Darby, based on Rob Thorn's last report. Not a single warbler or vireo. We were only there for an hour (10am - 11am), but still!! Here's what we did see: Eastern Bluebirds - 4 Chipping Sparrows - 5 Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1 Downy Woodpecker - 1 Flicker - 1 (heard) Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1 apparent juv. Gray-cheeked Thrush White-breasted Nuthatch - 2 (seen and heard) Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1 (heard only) Plenty of chickadees, titmice, and cardinals Not too bad, I guess. A lot better than what I would have seen if we'd have stayed home! -Nate Nye Hilliard, OH ______________________________________________________________________ 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]