Below is quoted a report of a large boreal chickadee incursion toward the region. Ohio has few documented records of this bird, the most recent of them way back in 1973. The first of them came from the Ohio part of Turtle Island off Toledo 6 Nov 1943; this and nearly all records since have come from near the Lake Erie shore (Lucas to Ashtabula counties). These birds may have followed the Lake shore, but significant numbers of records from South Bass Island (e.g., seven there in 1951, two specimens) suggest they may use the archipelago of islands in the lake to push south. Field-marks and distinctive calls are described in the standard references. More evidence is perhaps needed before anyone will go out looking for these birds, but here's a reminder to keep an eye and an ear out for them in northernmost Ohio in the coming months. A hopeful sign would be larger than usual numbers of black-capped chickadees. Good tape at http://stateofthebirds.audubon.org/cbid/profile.php?id=5 Jean Iron and Ron Pittaway posted this to the Ontario list on the 8th: "Germain Savard and Claudette Cormier report a huge irruption of Boreal Chickadees is occurring at Saint-Fulgence (N48 26 33 W70 52 42) in Quebec. Germain and Claudette report that "Today, October 8th, no less than 2403 Boreal Chickadees passed in front of our house for a grand total of 12,957 this autumn and the migration is not finished yet!" The chickadees are going from east to west streaming on the north side of the Saguenay River. They report that the chickadees don't like to fly over large bodies of water. Saint-Fulgence is about 215 km north of Quebec City on the north shore of the Saguenay River about half way between Tadoussac and Lac Saint-Jean. There have been no reports of Boreal Chickadees moving in Ontario, but the magnitude of the Quebec irruption suggests that it will spill over into southern Ontario and probably into bordering states." 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]