I hope no one will mind if I repeat what has become a yearly heads-up about cave swallows. They are rare, and a relatively new and interesting phenomenon here, so I think more people than I will be interested in this. More or less on schedule, a cave swallow was reported yesterday along the Toronto waterfront. These birds seem to move up the Atlantic seaboard, with some coming up the St. Lawrence into the Great Lakes in recent autumns. They generally are reported in Ohio in early November, but may get here earlier than that. This species was first noticed in Ohio in 2005, with premonitory sightings farther east in the Great Lakes noticed as early as 23 October since then. Not noticed here until early November last year, they were eventually seen way down south at Rocky Fork Lake, so any swallows seen in Ohio over the next month or so should be carefully examined. These swallows most closely resemble the common cliff swallow, but cliff swallows are long gone for the year. Check any small swallow with a contrasting buff/orange rump for the salient field-marks, especially the colors on the brow and the throat; please report any good finds. 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]