No verified Ohio sightings since 1991, actually. I posted about a draft of this paper several years ago, but it has been finished: http://www.fws.gov/southeast/birds/PDF/BEWR%20Status%20Assessment_Final_Mar09.pdf Apparently it has been submitted to USF&WS to aid in the possible redetermination of the Endangered Species Act status of the Bewick's wrens that used to be found in Ohio. This is a very readable and well-researched article; it also has a darkly humorous side. Cleveland's own J. W. Aldrich first described the easternmost subspecies "altus" of Bewick's wren in 1944. This much sootier-plumaged bird was the one found in Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. It turns out the difference might have been real soot, as the museum specimens examined came from Appalachian locales during the period when coal was indiscriminately burned for heat, places where--according to one informant--the mockingbirds showed no white in flight because they were so dirty. Combine this with the observed fact that these wrens delighted in inhabiting deserted outbuildings, rusting hulks of automobiles, and other trashy areas close to human habitations, and you can tell how scientists may have been misled. There is a serious side, too, as this bird (of whatever subspecies) has disappeared from the region over the past twenty years. I recommend the paper to those interested in bird populations and history. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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]