Yesterday Troy Shively, John Habig, Glen Crippen and I spent sixteen hours afield in Ohio seeing as many bird species as we could in a single day--103 in this case. As far as we know, no one else has done this. Those who are thinking "so what?" need read no further. Both of you who are still reading will know that Big Days can be absorbing. They'll make use of what you know about Ohio birds--their habits and habitats, seasonal occurrences, field marks and calls, etc. You must plan a maximally productive route given the time available. They also require stamina--from half-sprints over rough terrain to find birds as quickly as possible to tedious periods on the road--as well as strength of character--the ability to take repeated disappointments and to reject half-baked identifications and unappetizing snack food. Thanks to all who made timely and reliable reports of interesting species, for you helped us plan our trip. You'll understand of course why we cannot reveal our confidential itinerary, nor certain extraordinary measures undertaken. We can only say they were entirely within the strictures of ABA rules, even as to such details as our footwear and the terms of our modest corporate sponsorships. We missed five common species, whose names I will not share lest I embarrass the team. The secret of a good Big Day outcome is getting all the commoner species. We didn't find any rarities. Still, five Louisiana waterthrushes were nice for a day in March and a count of 23 waterfowl species was good for one day just about anytime. As far as we know, 103 is a new March record for Ohio. The previous record of 101 was set by Becky Cullen and Greg Links not long ago when in the course of doing a modest Wood County Big Day they were doing so well that during the last hours they detoured into Lucas County to tally 101. Northwestern Ohio birders are among the very best Big Dayers, so we expect they'll be surpassing our number soon enough. 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]