During a picnic lunch at the Ponds today we saw a Plegadis ibis over Blue Wing Pond. We soon met some apparently knowledgeable folks who claimed to have been seeing ibises from time to time there since the first report on 7/15, and showed us photos. Where these birds are from day to day remains a mystery; there are some good off-limits spots, as well as some remote and seldom-visited permitted ones. I wonder if the Parks staff have sightings of these birds, as we had several sightings of them as they passed by on the path in vehicles. Also seen were a towering pair of ospreys, quite likely the pair that lost a brood in Arrowhead Marsh this year. In Ellis Pond, in the hard-to-view mud flats visible from Wright Rd (best spot is near the big honey locust on the south side of the road maybe 75 yards on the Franklin Co side of the county line) are many larger shorebirds. Heat shimmer made them hard to make out, and the traffic roaring by at illegal speeds is intimidating, but one hopes the Park's plans to run a path out toward these flats will come to pass. The rest of this pond continues to be frustratingly bird-free. A pair of sandhill cranes with two colts are being sporadically reported in the Park, most recently at Arrowhead Marsh, as well. 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]