Going on the theory that a birdy yard means birdy in the field, I visited Bath Nature Preserve this morning. The theory panned out nicely, and it turned into a 5 hour hike with good birds just coming out of the woodwork, including a bumper crop of at least 9 meadowlarks and 5 first-of-year sightings. The blue skies and sunshine made for some spectacular viewing, too. Highlights: Bright yellow male goldfinch in his Easter finest, sitting in a red-flowering maple against a deep blue sky. Male bluebird showing brilliant indigo against a backdrop of aqua and cyan reflecting off the surface of a pond. Male pine siskin with lots of yellow with dark streaking, highlighted in the sun. A male eastern towhee with bright rufous sides scolding a vivid gold eastern meadowlark on the branch below. Longest, clearest views ever of a male pileated woodpecker with head flaming red in sun, drumming, calling and chipping bark from a tree trunk. My first real good looks at fox sparrows out in the open, in bright sunshine, several of them singing! But the very best moment: Watching a small flock of chatty golden crowned kinglets in the same tree as a drumming red bellied woodpecker when two hermit thrushes nearby break out in song! LIST: First of year: brown thrasher 1 fox sparrow 5 barn swallow 2 field sparrow 5 hermit thrush 5 Mallard - 1 pair flyover of odd shaped black duck sized waterfowl -- coot?? canada goose frozen motionless on her nest, many more near pond kettle of 11 turkey vultures in a swirling vortex coopers or sharp shinned hawk doing a slalom race between the upright poles of tall pines red tailed hawk mourning dove red bellied woodpecker - many downy woodpecker - many flicker - 4 pairs pileated woodpecker 3 eastern phoebe 5 blue jay 8 amer. crow 5 comm. grackle - 6 tree swallow - 7 pairs staking out bluebird boxes b.c. chickadee - many tufted titmouse - many red breasted nuthatch 1 white breasted nuthatch 9 golden crowned kinglets 4 eastern bluebird - at least 10 pairs on territory amer. robin - many e. starling - too many cardinal - many e. towhee - 8 song sparrow - many b.h. cowbird 11 eastern meadowlark - 9-13 moving around a lot, 6 visible together at one time red winged blackbird - many pine siskin 5 amer. goldfinch - many house sparrow - 2 battling with 2 starlings and 2 bluebirds for a tree cavity killdeer 2 white throated sparrow - 2 heard Noticeably absent: tree sparrow carolina wren d.e. junco Karen Gray Copley - Summit Co. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]