Hello Birders, The winter season may be winding down (recent temperatures notwithstanding) and there are already waterfowl and other migrants on the move, but for one last shot at the best of winter, Ohio birders will have a unique chance to learn about Snowy Owls on March 21 in Port Clinton. Famed researcher Norman Smith will be at the annual banquet of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory to speak about "Snowy Owls: As you've never seen them before." And he's in a position to do that, too. Smith has been studying Snowies for years, observing them for thousands of hours and banding hundreds of individuals, and he probably knows the species better than anyone else ever has. On top of that, he's a dynamic speaker and he has incredible photographs of the Snowy Owls in action (as well as other owls, and other birds that they interact with). Kim and I saw one of Norm's presentations last fall and we were so knocked out by it that we immediately begged him to come give a program in Ohio. You don't have to be a member of BSBO to attend this event, or to take part in the other things that the observatory has planned for the weekend of March 20-22 in Port Clinton. And the birds have some things planned, too: Waterfowl migration will be in full swing in the marshes and along the lakeshore, and there should be a good push of early migrants like Rusty Blackbirds and Fox Sparrows. It's a great time to visit this area! Please see the information available at http://www.bsbobird.org/ We hope to see you there! Kenn Kaufman Oak Harbor, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ 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]