On Flint Ridge, Hopewell Township, Muskingum County - Yesterday morning's walk (Thursday) yielded a mockingbird hanging out in a brush pile in the pasture of my neighbor to the south. I saw another last week around our spring near the house. These sightings are not daily occurrences, so I figure these birds are migrants passing through. Time was (2001 - 2007) when we hosted an over-wintering mockingbird, and I am watchful for another. Pine siskins continue to dominate the finch mix around our feeders. I would estimate that there are 30 or so siskins, often crowding out the house finches and goldfinches at the nyger and sunflower feeders. A flicker visited the suet yesterday afternoon, not an unusual bird, but an unusual visit to the suet. I usually find them in the forest, or anting around the fairly common large anthills around the property. A good close look at a male hairy woodpecker deep in the woods yesterday was also a treat. Males are uncommon visitors to our suet feeder. I remember reading in a definitive work about North America woodpeckers (a work so definitive that I can't currently remember its author...sorry) that male and female hairy woodpeckers have very different feeding preferences. Nice to see the sun again, yesterday afternoon and this morning. Bob Evans, Geologist, etc. Hopewell Township, Muskingum County ______________________________________________________________________ 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]