Hi All, I trust that everyone's atlasing activities are being productive this season. So far, this year has been very exciting for the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II and the cool reports keep coming in. It's been fun to read about some of your interesting atlasing observations. Keep up the great work everyone! I just got a phone call from Sean Williams who's in southern Harrison County right now. Sean reports that he "stumbled" on a quite expansive marsh just north of Piedmont Lake (and the small town of Belmont Ridge); southeast of the intersection of Hwy 331 and Ramsey Rd. Sean was in this area conducting point counts for the Atlas and noticed a large marsh near a gravel path along an old railroad bed (a bike path under construction?). He decided to investigate and walked this path and realized the enormity of the marsh after estimating 70+ Swamp Sparrows. After just minutes of being at this marsh, Sean confirmed Virginia Rails when an adult and several chicks walked right by him. Better yet, an AMERICAN BITTERN started calling just moments later! As far as I have been able to tell, neither of these species was recorded in Harrison County during the first Ohio Atlas. Might this marsh contain other interesting marsh species.I'm sure Sean will track them down later this evening as he tries to break 80 species for this block in one day (he's already up to 79 in under 6 hours!) I think Sean's experience illustrates perfectly the nature of Atlas birding. You never know what you're going to get! One may not think of a particular atlas block as containing much of interest from a birding perspective but a bit of investigation might yield some very exciting records often in the most unexpected places. Also, this part of the state (Harrison, Belmont, Guernsey, Noble, Jefferson, Monroe, Morgan Counties) is showing a significant lack of survey coverage. Regional Coordinators Dan Kramer, Scott Albaugh, Doug LeVasseur, and Lynda Andrews would greatly appreciate any atlasing efforts in their respective regions. The counties in this area of the state have a diversity of habitats and good birds are certainly being found. Atlasing is pure fun. Please join us in helping to put Ohio's nesting birds on the map. There's still plenty of time to get involved this field season. If you have questions about participation, please contact us at 614-247-6458 or email us at [log in to unmask] Thanks to everyone who is helping to realize the goals of this exciting project. Good birding! Aaron Boone Project Coordinator Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas II (614) 247-6458 www.ohiobirds.org/obba2/ ______________________________________________________________________ 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]