Greetings OBBA2 Region 53 along with the Little Beaver Creek Land Foundation and the Beaver Creek Wildlife Education Center will be hosting a Blockbuster weekend June 6, 7 & 8. Region 53 covers half of Mahoning County, most of Columbiana County, and parts of Jefferson and Carroll counties. Our region has a very wide range of habitats, from grasslands and marshes to riparian corridors and hemlock gorges. We have some good birders here but not nearly enough to do a good job of documenting all of our species. It is our goal to get some experienced birders in here to help us cover the areas we haven't gotten to yet. We also would like your help documenting our Common Merganser population. We know that a number of mergansers nest in the watershed but we would like a better idea of just how many. The ODNR/ Dept of Natural Areas and Preserves will provide canoes for those who wish to canoe the watershed. Canoeing in a great way to bird and I highly recommend it. But we are not just looking for canoers. We also welcome people who just like to drive from location to location. It would also be nice to get some hardy souls who want to explore our hemlock gorges. It is our hope that once you see our area you may want to come back. The blockbuster will be headquartered at the Beaver Creek Wildlife Education Center. If you come in on friday night you can join us at the Center for a cookout and a sort of kickoff ceremony with talks by Aaron Boone, OBBA2 Coordinator, and ODNR Director Sean Logan. Information about this event will soon be on the Ohio Ornithological Society website. It will also be available on the LBCWEC website, http://www.beavercreekwildlife.org/. And of course, I'll keep sending out reminders. You are also welcome to contact me with any questions. Jim Dolan OBBA2 Region 53 coordinator East Palestine [log in to unmask] 330 831 1744 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]