On Sunday, July 20, I tried to see the Common Ravens reported the previous weekend at Ferndale State Forest by the Columbus Avids and Bill Whan. I was not successful. Perhaps I arrived too late in the day at 11:00 - 11:30 am, but I tried to compensate by staying rather late until about 7:00 -7:30 pm. There was a period of about 1 hour in the early afternoon that a line of thunderstorms came through with heavy rain. So that may have affected birding for a period of time. I spent most of the time on the black-topped road in the state forest, scanning the area from the vistas along that road and listening for the tell-tale croak of ravens. The only corvids that I found were Common Crows and Blue Jays. Upon my arrival I found two distant black corvids feeding in a mown hay field, viewed from a vista, which raised my pulse rate, but alas they were only crows. I saw these birds again in the same field later in the afternoon. There were a number of small groups of crows with young of the year and adults. I also covered roads 32 and 33 north toward Steubenville and visited the Jefferson County Airport at least twice. I found a large group (8+) late in the evening along the state forest road, but again they were crows. Up the hill on road 26, there is an extensive grassland area recovered from strip mining. I found a flock of crows there also. This area had singing Savannah Sparrows, Grasshopper and Henslow's Sparrows and Bobolinks. The Bobolinks were gathering in flocks with Red-winged Blackbirds. At the small graveyard near the entry to this area from 26, I also had a Yellow-billed Cuckoo calling. On my last pass through only part of this grassland area, I started counting Henslow's Sparrows singing as I drove slowly for about a mile. I stopped counting at 30! I also had at least five more Henslow's Sparrows in another area of this recovered strip mine area. I believe that this grassland was the area that Aaron Boone reported on after they had found the breeding Common Ravens earlier this year. Other interesting birds in the vicinity of Ferndale SF were a Hooded Warbler still singing along the state forest road, and Broad-winged Hawk hunting in the woods near the roadside off of 26 on the way up the hill from road 34 to the state forest road. I will definitely try again for the Common Ravens in this or nearby areas. These recovered strip mine grassland areas are fascinating. Jay Jay G. Lehman Cincinnati, OH [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ 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]