Recently Paul Rodewald and Matthew Shumar put out an urgent request for help to cover “Priority Blocks” for the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas. Many priority blocks have little or no coverage and time is running out. Last year I expanded my surveying to include unstarted blocks in areas that at first glace appeared to have minimal quality habitat and therefore might be assumed to have little of interest within their borders. I was quite surprised at what I was able to locate in those blocks and I decided that I should cover some new survey blocks again this year. Today I went to Licking County Block 59C4SE. I didn’t regret the decision. This block includes the area to the east of Johnstown. Although development is encroaching on the habitat there are still nice grasslands to be found along with blocks of forest, edge areas and small wetlands. I tallied 67 species in the block including a few nice surprises. The grassland species were the stars with Blue-winged Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Dickcissel and Eastern Meadowlark. I had hoped for a Bobolink but no such luck. While checking out a small cemetery along Sportsman Club Road I scanned the fields next to it and found 6 species of grassland birds and when I turned to return to the car I discovered a Great Horned Owl snuggled for a nap and not very interested in me. The moral, don’t automatically assumed a block isn’t worth your time. Who knows what surprises will pop up. Charlie Bombaci SPECIES LIST Great Blue Heron Green Heron Turkey Vulture Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk American Kestrel Wild Turkey Killdeer Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Great Horned Owl Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Willow Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Eastern Kingbird White-eyed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Horned Lark Purple Martin Tree Swallow Barn Swallow Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Carolina Wren House Wren Eastern Bluebird Wood Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher European Starling Cedar Waxwing Blue-winged Warbler Yellow Warbler Louisiana Waterthrush Kentucky Warbler Common Yellowthroat Yellow-breasted Chat Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Song Sparrow Northern Cardinal Indigo Bunting Dickcissel Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Orchard Oriole Baltimore Oriole House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow ______________________________________________________________________ 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]