The Franklin County list for 2011 stands at 231 species. This county lies in the middle of Ohio. We have decent habitat variety despite having too many locations uninviting to birds. We also have a large contingent of active and skilled observers, and taking these factors into account we can offer some comprehensive coverage of Ohio's birdlife beyond the county level. We lack some habitats (hemlock glens and the Erie lakeshore are certainly among them) and, because being in the middle we are too far from--name your compass-point--normal ranges for some species. Still, our list shows what can be found in and around a large urban area in Ohio. While migration continues, we have pretty much exhausted new species we expected to add to the list by now or not at all. There is a big list of migrants we hope to see in the fall migration...we missed a few, and a lot of migrants are far likelier to occur later southbound. A few missing spring migrants have time to arrive---sedge wren is an example--and will probably be found during the nesting season. As far as I can see, there is only one migrant species unreported that we are unlikely to record in the fall: alder flycatcher. I urge folks to look and listen for this one this month. Visual ID is very tough for this one--photos are often inconclusive--but in spring the males have a distinctive vocalization that distinguishes them from our local nester the willow flycatcher. Birds mostly of the north, they are statewide migrants now, and a few nest or at least summer even south of this county. Willows are very vocal now on territory. Alders will be peaking as migrants now; they look much like willows but sound different--one description is a buzzier "weeb-ew," to me they sound like "rreee-beep'," unlike the familiar "rrritz'-bew" of the willow. A lot of the latter are nesting now at places like Pickerington Ponds, and it's welcoming habitat for migrant alders as well. Listen to local recordings at http://blb.biosci.ohio-state.edu/database.html . Nesting Henslow's sparrows are also still missing from the list, and silent ones will be tougher to find in fall. There are plenty of other species to look for now, of course, and you can find them un-highlighted on the list, which is at http://www.columbusaudubon.org/production/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=675&Itemid=216 Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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]