I posted early this morning, before I saw the "challenge". Nothing really unusual for the state, but some very interesting birds for my little yard. In the order seen: Just after 6 a.m.: 1. Dark eyed junco 2. Northern cardinal 3. House finch 4. American goldfinch 5, 6 and 7: Around 7 a.m., an extraordinary flock of blackbirds descended upon my yard. I tried to get a count, but they were swirling and moving. As an estimate, I think around 1200 birds. I estimate that about 60% were common grackles, 30% red-winged blackbirds and the rest brown-headed cowbirds. Most were males, but there were at least three female brown-headed cowbirds and two female red-wings. They consumed all the seed on the ground, and commandeered the feeders for about 20 minutes, which is all the time it took to empty the black oil sunflower feeders and suet feeders. After they had mostly gone (a few stayed around all day), I waited about an hour and refilled the feeders. I fed about 25 pounds of black oil sunflower seed today, and ran out of suet altogether. So, after about 9:00 a.m., and continuing until around 3 p.m., I saw the following: 8. Mourning dove 9. Blue jay 10. Song sparrow 11. American crow 12. European starling 13. Carolina chickadee 14. tufted titmouse 15. Downy woodpecker 16. Carolina wren 17. house sparrow 18. Red-bellied woodpecker 19. Red-breasted nuthatch 20. American crow 21. About 11 a.m., as I was shoveling a path out my drive, I heard and then saw about 20 ring-billed gulls. They travel from the small lake (former gravel pit) at T. J. Evans Park, to the parking lots at Kroger and Wal-Mart. I saw roughly the same number later in the day as I was walking my dogs. 22. White breasted nuthatch 23. Finally, about 3 p.m., during a particularly heavy snow, a turkey vulture floated just above the tree tops in my yard, poor guy. I have had a TV feed on roadkill in the road in front of my house, so I guess he was hoping to get lucky again. Didn't happen. So, final number: 23 species, with the flock of blackbirds being the most spectacular, the ring-billed gulls the least expected, and nothing particularly unusual by most people's standards. Margaret Bowman Newark, OH And finally, during a particularly heavy snowfall around 3 p.m., I ______________________________________________________________________ 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]