I took a friend birding today to introduce her to this wacky thing called birding, and despite focusing on common birds we managed to see a good number of species. We started off below Griggs dam for waterfowl, then over to Greenlawn Cemetery and up to Highbanks Metro Park to check the feeders. Here are a few highlights: Griggs Dam & Hoover Park: 1 male Gadwall (below the dam) Good numbers of Ring-billed Gulls on the dam 3 domestic-type ducks (below the dam) 3 Pie-billed Grebes (south of Hoover Park) 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk (near the 5th St. intersection) Greenlawn: 10 Pine Siskins (high count; first heard in the trees around the pond, they eventually came into the feeders) 1-2 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 flyover Cooper's Hawk Highbanks: 1-2 probable "Cassiar"-type Dark-eyed Juncos 1m, 1f Eastern Towhees 2 "Red" Fox Sparrows (feeders near the creek) 2 Common Grackles (feeders near the creek) Good birding, Paul Hurtado ______________________________________________________________________ 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]