I just returned from a walk along the bike path from the Rockside Road parking lot. I walked south to Stone Road and back. There was a great white egret a short distance from the parking lot. It was fishing in the Canal near a green heron. The egret was very content to fish; and, it didn't mind someone watching. A little bit farther south was what I think was an immature merganser paddling with some wood ducks. It was mostly brown with a dark bill. The bill had a little bit of yellow on the bottom part. The head was dark brown with a little bit of a crest. The chin and neck were buff. The merganser seemed to follow the wood ducks. The best thing I saw was near Stone Road. I saw two red-tailed hawks circling just above the treetops. One was the normal color. The other was chocolate brown with the reddish tail. I got a good look at the two hawks with my binoculars for about 10 minutes. They were fairly low. They would go down into the tree and then come out again. Maybe they were having trouble getting a thermal. There were also some turkey vultures in the same area. But, the dark bird was a red-tail. I saw its reddish tail. It was also flying close to the other hawk. I am not sure if this is a local bird or a migrant. I have read that some hawks have started to go south. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]