Jo MacIntosh, Michael Packer and I went to Spring Valley this Friday morning to scout the area in preparation for Sunday's CA field trip. What a wonderful day it was - warm, breezy (a little buggy, but not too bad) and birdy!! We arrived around 8:15am and was there for about 3 1/2 hrs. We ended up with just under 60 species (usual suspects included) There were a few very special moments though, that I will save for the end of the list. Highlights included Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers EVERYWHERE!! Field Sparrow Song Sparrow White Throated Sparrow Swamp Sparrows EVERYWHERE along the boardwalk Chipping Sparrow Hairy WP Downy WP Red-Bellied WP Flicker Pileated WP (heard many, found the tree with the nest, saw them in two areas) Brown Thrasher Eastern Towhee Eastern Meadowlark Ruby-Crowned Kinglet Chimney Swift Yellow-Rumped Warbler Yellow Warbler (quite a few along the boardwalk) Warbling Vireo Pine Warbler Carolina Wren Tree Swallow Northern Rough-Wing Swallow Great Egret Great Blue Heron Wood Duck Blue-Winged Teal Coot Bufflehead Ruddy Duck Red Head Pied-Bill Grebe Trumpeter Swan Spotted Sandpiper Yellowlegs (flyover - not sure which type) RT Hawk RS Hawk (found the nest - saw one bird sitting on it) Northern Harrier Cooper's Hawk Now for those "finds of the day" A pair of BEAUTIFUL purple finches at the feeders (definitely M/F - possibly a breeding pair perhaps???) Sora (saw one off the first section of the boardwalk, heard more calling along the length of the boardwalk) Jo saw an American Bittern fly up out of the reeds for about a second or two and then fly back down - unfortunately, Michael and I missed it. A GORGEOUS pair of Broad-Wing Hawks circling just above the main parking lot A very up close and personal look at an Osprey who cooperated and posed on a close tree branch for at least 20-30 minutes - then began to fish Great looks at a stunning Prothonotary Warbler And finally a Northern Parula that literally came within a couple feet of the car (which we were using as a blind) and if we stayed much longer, he probably would have flown right in and come home with us. Nadya Bennett Columbus --- Packer Lighting Solutions Ask me about sustainable lighting --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]