When I went out to check on the feeders this morning, I heard the first Fox Sparrow of the year. He was perched in a shrub near the pond, which is still snow covered. In the afternoon, picking through a noisy flock of blackbirds I found 1 Rusty Blackbird mixed in with 11 Cowbirds, 12 Common Grackles, over 50 Red-winged Blackbirds and 1 lone Starling. Must be a scout for a party of 1000. A Barred Owl called persistently just after 5:00, giving me an opportunity to locate him in the spruce trees by the street. Chagrin River Road at the Cuyahoga/Geauga County Line Inga Schmidt ______________________________________________________________________ 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]