Hi all, I wanted to tip everyone to a fascinating paper that was published recently in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology, by three Ohio researchers: Cheryl Dykstra, Jeff Hays, and Melinda Simon. They have been studying nesting Red-shouldered Hawks in southern Ohio for years, and have discovered some fascinating relationships between these beautiful raptors and certain types of foliage, most notably black cherry. The leaves of this tree are loaded with toxins, and the hawks use it to adorn their nests, apparently as a natural insecticide. The paper is a short but good read, and is a wonderful bit of research into the relationships between animals and plants. I suspect that few readers of this list subscribe to the Wilson Journal, so if you would like to have a look at the paper, I've posted it to my blog: http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/ 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]