I spent the morning hiking around these two sites looking for late landbirds and waterfowl migrants, I stopped at Darby Bend Lakes in Prairie Oaks, then went down to the Kuhlwein and former silo wetlands. The lakes had loads of sparrows, but little else; the only waterfowl were Canada Geese. The Darby wetlands are completely dry. Kuhlwein still had lots of sparrows, plus pipits and Palm Warblers; the former silo wetlands now have two signed trails - the Teal Loop to the N and the Harrier Loop to the S - but had no water despite the recent rains and had very few birds. The notables included Vultures - a flock of 25 Turkey Vultures kettled over the nearby town of Alton, while a Black Vulture was over the north loop of the greenway trail at Darby wetlands. Phoebe - 1 was fly-catching along the south pond shore at Darby Bend Lakes Kinglets - 2 Ruby-crowns were foraging along the stream corridor at Darby Bend Lakes Thrushes - flocks of Robins were at Darby Bend Lakes (DBL), along with 4-5 E.Bluebirds. Another bluebird flock was at Kuhlwein. Larks & Pipits - Horned Larks were widespread in the Darby Wetlands, while a flock of 4 Pipits were fly-overs at Kuhlwein. Warblers - Yellow-rumps were abundant at Darby bend lakes (40+), while 2 Palm Warblers were at the Kuhlwein wetlands Sparrows - Song & White-throated Sparrows were abundant at Darby Bend lakes; Songs were also common at Kuhlwein. White-crowned sparrows were at all 3 sites, but only 1-2 were at the wetlands (vs. 6-8 at DBL). Swamp Sparrows were at DBL and Kuhlwein, but not at the Teal loop. Savannah Sparrows were in the dry parts of the Darby wetlands, while Kuhlwein also had a Lincoln's Sparrow. Meadowlarks - 5 were in the low areas along the Teal Loop, where there were still loads of grasshoppers. I'd expect more here over the next few weeks. Blackbirds - Redwings were in small flocks at every site, but I could only find a few grackles at DBL. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]