The current waterfowl migration, spectacular as it is simply to watch, is a reminder to look for other hardier migrants this time of year. Several Mississippi kite (!) reports have come from Florida over the past week. These birds take the same overland route heading north as in the fall, so this would be a quite early date for Florida IF these reports are correct (I see no reports from Texas, contrastingly). At any rate, we should start looking for kites here about late April (here I am, talking about Mississippi kites as an Ohio breeder, who woulda thunk it a year ago?), so birding golfers and golfing birders should get ready. Ruby-throated hummingbirds, which move north right over the Gulf of Mexico, unlike wimpy raptors, are passing through Florida and Texas now. Which reminds me, don't forget those pioneering westerners, like rufous hummingbirds, that have started wintering in the east. They migrate early, soon now in some cases, and if you'd like to have Ohio's second spring record, haul out your feeder--and your camera. Jeffrey Spaulding's report of an Osprey nest-building on the 15th here was nice and early; that pair at Salt Fork has been the first to get busy recently. Brad Sparks had ospreys doing likewise locally at Pickerington Ponds yesterday. Another species that's come a long way to get here to nest. Yellow-crowned night-herons were reported locally early at a spot on the mid-east coast within the last week. We generally expect our Ohio nesters about 1 Apr, but maybe we should start looking earlier this year... Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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]