This morning we checked out the activity at Sharon Woods Metro Park (Franklin County). Things were generally slow except for several bursts of activity lasting from 5 minutes to 20 minutes. We began with the Spring Creek Trail and finished with the Edward S. Thomas Trail. This provided us with varied habitat that included forest, edge areas and grasslands. My highlight was several Scarlet Tanagers in intense red color that perched on open branches and put on an enjoyable show. A pair of Vesper Sparrows flitted around us allowing for a terrific view of this grassland species. Often Vesper Sparrows stay low and amid cover vegetation, but this pair rose to pishing and perched as if to show off their white outer tail feathers just in case there were any questions of their heritage. In all it was a wonderful morning to walk the trails enjoying both the birds and the wild flowers. Species included: Canada Goose Mallard Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Cooper’s Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Mourning Dove Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Eastern Wood Pewee Willow Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Tree Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse White-breasted Nuthatch Carolina Wren House Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Eastern Bluebird Veery Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Tennessee Warbler Nashville Warbler Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler American Redstart Common Yellowthroat Summer Tanager Scarlet Tanager Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Song Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-Crowned Sparrow Northern Cardinal Indigo Bunting Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Baltimore Oriole House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow We totaled 63 species, however, there were several species that were expected that were not found. Among these were Wood Duck, Pileated Woodpecker, Acadian Flycatcher, Palm Warbler, Ovenbird, Louisiana Waterthrush and Orchard Oriole. A friend once told me that that’s why they call it birding rather than bird watching. This will provide an excuse to return to Sharon Woods Metro Park and enjoy its beauty. Charlie Bombaci ______________________________________________________________________ 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]