I stopped by Ellis Lake Wetlands (near Cincinnati; directions below) to see if the black-necked stilt was still there. It wasn't, but this is a great place to bird. I had 49 species in just under 3 hours, including four First-Of-Year FOY) birds. Here are the birds seen: Canada goose wood duck mallard blue-winged teal green-winged teal great blue heron turkey vulture red-tailed hawk killdeer solitary sandpiper greater yellow-legs lesser yellow-legs mourning dove downy woodpecker (see note below) northern flicker white-eyed vireo yellow-throated vireo warbling vireo blue jay tree swallow bank swallow Carolina chickadee tufted titmouse Carolina wren house wren blue-gray gnatcatcher ruby-crowned kinglet American robin gray catbird northern mockingbird brown thrasher European starling common yellowthroat CERULEAN WARBLER - FOY YELLOW WARBLER - FOY PALM WARBLER - FOY yellow-rumped warbler yellow-throated warbler eastern towhee song sparrow white-throated sparrow northern cardinal red-winged blackbird eastern meadowlark common grackle brown-headed cowbird BALTIMORE ORIOLE - FOY house finch American goldfinch The interesting thing about the pair of downy woodpeckers is that they were apparently defending a nesting cavity from a starling. There was a awful squawking and squabbling, and when I tracked down the ruckus, this pair of downies were buzzing and bombing a starling, which eventually went away and roosted in a nearby tree. I also met three other birders, who had seen Wilson's snipe and northern parula, although I didn't see either of those. (Probably just wasn't looking in the right place.) Directions: From the I-275 outerbelt around Cincinnati, take Exit 42B to Ohio 747 north. Go about 3 1/2 miles to Union Center Blvd. (Some enterprising vandal has removed any signs indicating the name of this road. Hope you have a GPS that gives street names!) Go about a mile west and watch for wetlands to the right (north). You'll pass over a railroad overpass (seems like a bridge!). Keep watching to the right (north) for the first "real" street (not into a warehouse). If I recall, it's called something like Firebird Rd. Turn right. If you come to a bike path and a turn-around, you're in the right place. Park there. The sky pools are to the west, the bike trail goes both east and west. I got my best birds by walking the bike path east about 1 1/2 mile. However, the stilt was (before it left the area) in the sky pools to the west, and that's where I saw most of the waterfowl and all of the shorebirds. Margaret Bowman Newark, Licking Co., 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]