Today I led a morning bird walk at Highbanks Metro Park in Delaware County. The park’s intern naturalist and I were joined by about 14 intrepid souls. The activity was mixed with a few hot spots and many dead zones, but we still managed to tally a respectable list. We did prove the theory that this is an active tick season after we wandered off the trail. I knocked more ticks off my trousers today than I’d seen the last several years combined and for good measure I took the last one off the back of my neck after I sensed the little devil climbing for new heights. Moral, stay on the trails, use DEET and tuck trousers into socks if you are in tick habitat. The highlights in my opinion were a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that was unusually cooperative for the entire group, a brilliant colored male Canada Warbler and a very loud Yellow-breasted Chat. That’s not to take away from the rest of the species we located. The list of species that members of the group tallied follows. 1. Turkey Vulture 2. Cooper’s Hawk 3. Mourning Dove 4. Yellow-billed Cuckoo 5. Chimney Swift 6. Ruby-throated Hummingbird 7. Red-bellied Woodpecker 8. Downy Woodpecker 9. Eastern Wood-Pewee 10. Acadian Flycatcher 11. Alder Flycatcher [observed by Rob Thorn who we met during the walk - but worth passing along] 12. Least Flycatcher 13. Eastern Phoebe 14. Great Crested Flycatcher 15. Eastern Kingbird 16. Red-eyed Vireo 17. Blue Jay 18. American Crow 19. Tree Swallow 20. Barn Swallow 21. Carolina Chickadee 22. Tufted Titmouse 23. White-breasted Nuthatch 24. House Wren 25. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 26. Eastern Bluebird 27. Veery 28. Swainson’s Thrush 29. Wood Thrush 30. American Robin 31. Gray Catbird 32. Brown Thrasher 33. European Starling 34. Cedar Waxwing 35. Northern Parula 36. Yellow Warbler 37. Chestnut-sided Warbler 38. Magnolia Warbler 39. Yellow-rumped Warbler 40. American Redstart 41. Ovenbird 42. Louisiana Waterthrush [heard only] 43. Common Yellowthroat 44. Canada Warbler 45. Yellow-breasted Chat 46. Summer Tanager 47. Scarlet Tanager 48. Eastern Towhee 49. Chipping Sparrow 50. Field Sparrow 51. Northern Cardinal 52. Indigo Bunting 53. Red-winged Blackbird 54. Common Grackle 55. Brown-headed Cowbird 56. Orchard Oriole 57. Baltimore Oriole 58. American Goldfinch 59. House Sparrow Charlie Bombaci **************An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222377005x1201454319/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditr eport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=62&bcd=MayExcfooter51609NO62) ______________________________________________________________________ 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]