I feel for the dad who posted that he took the kids out for an owl and ended up with Canada Geese. I think we all have had those days. My year got off to a better start. I began at the Alum Creek South bike path in Westerville (Franklin County). My first bird was the gray morph Eastern Screech Owl in the tree cavity. Further down the trail I picked up the two rufous morphs at the steel bridge. These little guys have been reliable since December 2010. I picked up many of the common residents along the way and then headed over to Blendon Woods Metro Park. I parked near the nature center and walked down the road towards the Dogwood reservable picnic area. About 100 yards down the road I picked up a Barred Owl. As I looped my way back along the Sugarbush Trail I located a second Barred Owl among the evergreens. Back at Thoreau there were the plentiful American Black Ducks, Mallards, Hooded Mergansers, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron and a belted Kingfisher. I had to stay close to home today as the rest of the family is down with the bug. Off to the store again for Kleenex, aspirin, juice and soup. Father dad to the rescue. Charlie B. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]