Howdy, I arrived at around 11:28am at the North Pool launch and wandered up to the beach along the shore. To my surprise, when the flock of ~23 Ring-billed, 4 Bonaparte's and single Herring Gulls flushed, there remained a single adult, female, mostly-breeding Red-breasted Merganser. She looked displeased with the sudden lack of cover, but allowed me close enough to get some decent photos -- decent enough for ID... Meeting the Merganser half-way out in the lake was a single adult, non-breeding Common Loon. I was able to get some passable photos (MUCH better than last time). I didn't see the Red-throated Loon, sadly, but this still was a pretty good day, despite the decidedly foul (no pun intended) conditions. The only other species of note was a busy Red-tailed Hawk zipping from tree to tree just enough ahead of me that even with the zoom, he was just a brown blob. There WAS a small puzzle as I pulled into a VERY empty Spring Valley NP (Juncos...). It looked for the world like a Northern Harrier, though while having the clean white front, the back wasn't grey, but brown with the white rump. Intermediate molt? Sadly, as it was perched along the road coming up on the horse farm at the bend, I had to slow the car down a bit and try to get the moonroof open without spooking the bird. No such luck. Dove low and disappeared. Anyway, it's late, I'm rambling, and I hope to have the photos of the Mergi and Loon up, soon. Happy birding, and good night, Phil --------------------- Philip M. Ware [log in to unmask] http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/free/gallery.asp?mem=117474 http://www.onemodelplace.com/member.cfm?P_ID=79253 --------------------- "I've never been so insulted in all my life." "It's early, yet." - G. Marx. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping ______________________________________________________________________ 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]