Off-topic, I fear, but amusing: A commercial seen during today's broadcast of the OSU football game on ABC shows the "Island of Flightless Birds." The message of the commercial apparently involves the innovative spirit of one of the birds who decides to fly and how he/she amazes the other birds who apparently were unaware that they could fly also. The funny part is that the birds in question are Northern Gannets, shown in a small colony on a rocky outcrop. Showing the words "Island of flightless birds" over a video of gannets induces immediate and severe cognitive dissonance in any birder, as we all know that Northern Gannets are among the most accomplished and graceful fliers in the avian world! It doesn't help that the people who made the commercial chose one of the most recognizable birds in North America: one glance at those beautiful golden heads, with snow white bodies set off by black primaries, and you think immediately of soaring -- not flightless -- birds. I was so busy laughing about flightless gannets that I never did see what product or company the commercial was advertising.... -- Bill Heck ______________________________________________________________________ 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]