This morning I searched for the Snow Geese seen by Jack Stenger on Friday, 12/19/08, and photographed with one Ross's Goose, on Saturday, 12/20/08 by Allan Claybon. I searched the borrow pits within 7 miles of I-71 on Rt. 35 both east and west of I-71 including the borrow pits where they were first seen and also photographed yesterday, Saturday, 12/20/08. As a last resort, I stopped in Melvin at the Melvin Quarry to see if the birds were there. I found at least seven Ross's Geese, and one possible Ross's x Snow hybrid. These birds were close to the western edge of the ice and lake. There were two white phase Snow Geese further east along the edge of the ice. The Ross's Geese were mostly roosting along the ice shelf, but occasionally raised their heads and were swimming, when Canada Geese flock got restless. I checked over these Ross's Geese very carefully, because this is a rather large flock of this previously quite rare and review species for Ohio. However, all seven were quite small, a little bit bigger than Mallards, with rounded heads and steep foreheads down to the bill with short stubby bills that were quite flat on the back edge where the bill meets the face, and with no visible black grin patch between the bill mandibles. In comparison, the Snow Geese had more elongated heads that gradually narrowed to the bill width at the base of the bill, and with curved back edge to the bill/ face interface and with upper and lower back edges of the bill protruding back into the face. Hope that these birds stay for a while. 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]