Howdy All! Interesting weather is ahead this weekend for Ohio birders. Normally, a hurricane coming up the East Coast would alert us to the possibility of birds from the Southeast U.S. or even a pelagic straggler. But that is probably not going to be the case this weekend. A powerful low pressure system centered over Lake Superior is affecting currents in the Jet Stream at a very high level. In fact, it appears that it is actually affecting the course of Hurricane Earl, keeping it further off the coast. Cooler air will enter Ohio this weekend from the low pressure over Lake Superior; not air pulled down from the North by the hurricane. What does this mean for Ohio birders? Winds from the surface up to 5000 feet will sweep down from Central Canada into the Eastern Great Plains and come directly from the *West* into Ohio. What can we expect to see? I don't know. This pattern is unknown to me. I don't ever remember seeing this. I've watched weather on the surface for years. But this is my first year observing airflow patterns from 300 feet (most land bird migrants) to 5000 feet (many shorebird migrants). So I perused some of the listservs from the Eastern Great Plains and states west of us to find out what birds were moving right now. From that information (plus some daydreaming) I have put together the following list of interesting birds to look for this weekend: White-faced Ibis Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Mississippi Kite Swainson's Hawk Piping Plover American Avocet Upland Sandpiper Whimbrel Long-billed Curlew Hudsonian Godwit Marbled Godwit Western Sandpiper Baird's Sandpiper Stilt Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Wilson's Phalarope Red-necked Phalarope Long-billed Jaeger Black Tern Olive-sided Flycatcher Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Western Kingbird Philadelphia Vireo Golden-winged Warbler Mourning Warbler Clay-colored Sparrow Lark Sparrow Dickcissel Yellow-headed Blackbird Of course, none of these birds may show up in any increased numbers. I just don't know. But I found this weather pattern to be distinctly interesting at this time of year. The most interesting days (weather-wise) will be Saturday and Sunday and to lesser extent, Monday. Good birding to everyone who's getting out this weekend! -Greg Miller Sugarcreek, OH ______________________________________________________________________ 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]