As foreshadowed by the emergence of flies on my back porch this morning, 8 to 10 tree swallows were cavorting, chattering, squabbling, swooping and checking out the nest boxes on the top of the hill this morning. They have been seen around water and lowlands of the state for many days now. It's good to have them back on our hilltop, finally. I consider them to be one of the feature species of this farm, and I always eagerly anticipate their arrival. Now if I can just rid the boxes (particularly box number 2) of the house sparrows. I already cleaned them out twice, but they are back at it. I guess it's time to deploy more serious measures. Bob Evans Geologist, etc. Hopewell Township, Muskingum County ______________________________________________________________________ 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]