Yesterday morning, I had the opportunity to visit the Wahkeena Nature Preserve just south of Lancaster on US 33. Although I used to go there when I was young (in my non-birding days), it was fascinating to go back as an adult birder. The Preserve has a variety of habitats, and they care for an injured screech owl and red-tailed hawk for up-close & personal views. This summer, they observed a Lousiana Waterthrush nest with babies. Yesterday, there were many of those "confusing fall warblers" that I couldn't make a positive ID on. The highlights were the Wood Ducks and the first White-Throated Sparrows of the season (for me). Wahkeena is along the Hocking Valley Birding Trail and the $7.00 admission fee helps with NP maintenance. Thanks to Robin and Tom for being such good hosts !! Here's what we saw: Wood Duck - 25 (male & female; several juveniles?) White-throated Sparrow - 2 Great Blue Heron - 1 Downy Woodpecker - 1 Red-Bellied Woodpecker - 1 Eastern Towhee - 10 Carolina Wren - 1 Gray Catbird - 1 White-Breasted Nuthatch - 1 Eastern Phoebe - 1 Blue Jay - 12 Northern Cardinal - 6 Carolina Chickadee - 6 Tufted Titmouse - 6 American Goldfinch - 6 Turkey Vulture - 2 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]