Had my first singing Chipping Sparrows this morning at Blue Limestone down by the Delaware Run. Red caps, whitish breasts, facial patterns, and all. Three birds were singing, and one was just associated with another chipper. A Winter Wren was nice to hear singing. The main show for me though were the Pine Siskins. See list and details below: Observation date: 3/28/09 Number of species: 36 Canada Goose 14 Mallard 8 Killdeer 3 Mourning Dove 5 Belted Kingfisher 1, female, quite active and vocal Red-bellied Woodpecker 6 Downy Woodpecker 12 Hairy Woodpecker 3 Northern Flicker 3 Eastern Phoebe 8, lots now, almost all of them singing Blue Jay 20 American Crow 10 Horned Lark 2 Carolina Chickadee 15 Tufted Titmouse 4 White-breasted Nuthatch 7 Brown Creeper 1 Carolina Wren 6 WINTER WREN 1, singing, great views Golden-crowned Kinglet 14 American Robin 25 European Starling 20 Eastern Towhee 6, many singing CHIPPING SPARROW 4, 3 singing, all around pine, good to have them back! Field Sparrow 1, also singing Song Sparrow 5 White-throated Sparrow 29 Dark-eyed Junco 28 Northern Cardinal 42 Red-winged Blackbird 10 Common Grackle 15 Brown-headed Cowbird 8 House Finch 5 PINE SISKIN 13, courtship display? Here's what they were doing- in a group of three birds, one bird sat atop a pine tree while two others were in chase, singing nonstop. Eventually one siskin dissuaded the other, and the victor "danced" around the lone bird at the top, making elaborate wing beats and singing. I had never seen such behavior in siskins, but I watched for about 30 mins. Has anyone else seen this behavior? (safe dates, Aaron?) American Goldfinch 9 House Sparrow 20 Good birding, Sean -- Sean Williams Ohio Wesleyan University Lab of Dr. Jed Burtt ______________________________________________________________________ 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]