This past Saturday in rural western Athens County I saw my FOS Chipping Sparrow, and heard/saw my FOS Brown-headed Cowbirds. The number of singing Field Sparrows has increased greatly since last weekend. On Saturday (Mar 22nd) I only heard one singing Field Sparrow singing along our road, but a week later (Mar 29) I heard at least 5 in varying locations along our road. Also, we are now up to at least 5 pairs of Phoebes along our road, including a pair that returned to our property on March 20th (well, that's when the male showed up - I'm not sure exactly when the female showed up). I have been birding on the run for the past few weekends (meaning birding while running), covering different roads and distances each weekend, which has proved to be vastly entertaining and a great way to see birds that I would likely not encounter if I were just driving these roads. I flushed an Eastern Meadowlark this past weekend, and it was great to see that flash of lemon yellow burst up from the ground. I also heard/saw a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers, adding another pair to my mental map of known Red-headed locations within a short drive from my house (they are the least prevalent of the 6 common year-round Ohio woodpecker species in my part of SEOhio). I'm still waiting for what I predict will be our next spring arrivals in the 'hood: Brown Thrasher and Louisiana Waterthrush. Good birding to all, Heather Aubke Albany, OH ______________________________________________________________________ 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]