Hi all, I made my way bright and early to the flatlands of Paulding County and the former Great Black Swamp, abutting Indiana way up in northwestern Ohio. After seeing Micki and Doug Dunakin's report late last night of Barnacle Goose, I knew where I was off to today. No luck on the goose, unfortunately, despite multiple checks of the wetland where it was found, along with stops at all of the other water-bearing sites that I knew of in that area. There aren't many. I know that many will possibly be quick to dismiss this goose as an escape; that is often the default response for out-of-range waterfowl. And short of lunging from a handy shrub and grabbing a fistful of feathers, or shooting the bird, we may never know if this one is wild or not. Barnacle Geese that have appeared in interior North America recently have in one way or another had samples taken that could be subjected to stable isotope analysis, which revealed that they came from a latitude on a par with their breeding grounds in the far north. This would seem to eliminate captive origins. There are a few Ohio specimens, and arrangements are to be made to have material from those tested as well. Not sure how long all of this will take. But it will be interesting to see the results. I did find plenty of birds to look at. Numerous flocks of wary, wild Canada Geese along with equally spooky migrant Mallards, and smatterings of Green-winged Teal, American Black Ducks, and American Wigeon. A small flock of Bonaparte's Gulls graced Paulding Reservoir, and it was nice to FINALLY see more than a few American Kestrels - I probably had 15 in the Paulding area, along with an exquisite male Northern Harrier. Five species of shorebird was good for early November: lots of Killdeer, one Greater Yellowlegs, one Least Sandpiper, about 15 Dunlin, and a Wilson's Snipe. To echo Jen Brumfield's earlier post commenting about flight calls, I had one Snow Bunting, detected high overhead. Believe it or not, some crude imitations of his whistles brought him down low and around for a few circles to check out the only upright object in a sea of flat freshly plowed bare earth. I also had a dozen or so Purple Finches. This is a species that will be missed big time if one isn't familiar with their soft bik bik calls. Jim Jim McCormac Columbus, Ohio Like nature? Visit my blog: http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/ Like birds? Join the Ohio Ornithological Society: http://www.ohiobirds.org ______________________________________________________________________ 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]