I live in rural Athens County, and this evening I walked down to a reliable site on my road where woodcocks have been observed doing courtship rituals in previous years. I did not hear a peent, nor see a full display, but did hear a truncated version of the wing whistling that accompanies the ascending part of courtship flight, which was paired with visual confirmation of the bird flying overhead, back lit by what light was left in the sky. I'm hoping that with the even milder weather that's predicted for tomorrow that I'll get to see a full courtship display soon! One thing I wonder about these very early (in the season) displays is whether these are birds that came from up north and this is as far south as they got in their fall migration, or could this possibly be a male who nested here last year? I'm assuming it's the former, but who knows? Before the woodcock showed up, I was treated to a delightful serenade by a VERY loud Song Sparrow. He seemed to be working on setting up some territory boundaries - I watched him for at least 15 minutes, and he moved around to a variety of different locations before returning to the shrub where I had originally spotted him. I was impressed by his repertoire - he sang at least 4 different songs, but there was probably even more variation than that and I just couldn't pick them all apart from each other. Good birding, Heather Aubke Albany, 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]