Dave Slager and I were interested in checking some of the Columbus cemeteries for crossbills. I met Dave this morning at his home along the Olentangy River just south of OSU. He had joked with me yesterday about starting our search with the single spruce tree in his backyard but that didn't turn out to be such a bad idea. I pulled up a few minutes late and just shy of a female WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL that briefly landed in the top of the spruce! Dave said it flew in noisily, landed just long enough for him to get great looks and then flew south along the river. Hoping that to be a major omen, we headed north to the Union Cemetery off Olentangy River Road. We didn't have any luck at either the west or east unit but this cemetery is fairly large and should be checked. Our next stop was Greenlawn Cemetery and after just a few minutes of arriving at an area with some hemlocks (Sections G & I), we had a male WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL fly in noisily and land briefly. It wasn't perched for very long but circled back once and headed into the interior of the cemetery. This bird was heard before it was seen and if you're not familiar with either species' calls, I would highly recommend visiting the Cornell Lab's Macaulay Library web site ( http://www.birds.cornell.edu/MacaulayLibrary/) to listen to some of their many recordings. Good birding! -- Aaron Boone Columbus, OH ______________________________________________________________________ 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]