Adding to Scott Albaugh's post about Pike Island, the border needs a little more explanation. Which state? While it is true the border between WV and Ohio is the northern bank of the Ohio River, the survey was done before the river was dammed and in some places is quite aways from the current bank. For official records, records committee level sightings, use the USGS topographic maps. For example at Rayland Marina/Warrenton Inlet the border is roughly the middle of the river. For Pike Island (actual island is above the dam and under water) the official border is roughly the forth pylon on the dam. Because the spillway is on the Ohio side and water rarely flows over it in any volume, there is little current on the Ohio side and the vast majority of birds seen will be within Ohio's official borders. For records level rarities where the location is in doubt, take at least two and preferably three photos showing the opposite bank so its location can be triangulated, if you are so inclined. BBCs, OH and WV, use DeLorme and eBird uses Google Maps. Both of these use the current bank in most places along the length of the river. Given the difficulty in locating the true border, this is a prudent solution. However, if you use eBird as your Ohio life list keeper, birds entered from the Pike Island hotspot will be coded WV, including land birds on the list. For data analysis, eBird ignores political subdivisions but must use them to make data entry reasonably consistent. And, of course, the birds don't give a damn about where we want to put them. Scott Pendleton ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]