With a large pre-dawn flight of migrants, I rushed out to two of my favorite local traps: Oxbow Island at Hoover Reservoir and New Galena at Alum Lake State Park. Each had a different set of birds, showing how different migrants moved. Oxbow is an island, which makes it a real trap for night migrants looking for a dawn resting & feeding place. As soon as I got out of the car, I could hear thrushes and warblers, and they were all along the parking areas and causeway to the island. I spent several delirious minutes looking _down_ on warblers - Nashvilles, Black-thr.Greens, Cape mays, and Blackpolls - as they fed in asters and willow saplings along the side of the road. Highlights in an hour included: Thrushes - 15 Swainsons, 2 Gray-cheeked, and 1 late Wood Thrush Mimids - 15+ Catbirds, 1 Mockingbird (along road in) Cedar Waxwings - a flock of 100-120 feeding on berries around the last parking lot on the island. Warblers - 14 species: Nashville (2), Tenn.(3), Magnolia (6), Black-thr.Green (6), Blackpoll (2), Blackburnian, Yellow-rumped, Cape may (3), Black&White, Redstart (4), Ovenbird, Hooded (1 male), Wilson's, Com.Yellowthroat. Others: Rose-br.grosbeak (3), Scarlet Tanager (1) New Galena is a peninsula hanging down along the east shore of Alum Lake. it doesn't have many forest-sized trees, so it isn't a particularly attractive spot to night migrants. But it does funnel day-flying birds down the shore in the morning. Highlights in an hour there included: Raptors - 12 Turkey Vultures, 1 Osprey Swifts - small flocks of 10-15 were swirling past all morning. Swallows & Flycatchers - 2 Rough-winged swallows flying past the point, and 2 Phoebes flycatching around the point and bay Blue Jays - 115 flew by, mostly in small flocks, between 9:15 - 10:15 Thrushes - 8+ Swainsons and 2 Gray cheeked were hanging out in the berry bushes along the loop trail here, while 25-30 Robins flew over the point. Mimids - 25 Catbirds along the trails (less than the 60+ here a week ago), plus 1 Mockingbird along the road Cedar Waxwings - multiple flocks for a total of 250+ birds, mostly flying south Warblers - 6 species: Magnolia (4), Black-thr.Green (2), Blackpoll, Cape May (2), Redstart (3), Com.Yellowthroat (3) Blackbirds - small flocks of Redwings flew past, while a big flock of Grackles (200+) was foraging along the Africa Rd nearby. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]