Fellow birders with and without a sense of humor, It appears that a reasonably harmless tradition on this list serve has been stomped to death like a wounded pigeon on a New York side walk. I speak, of course, of the bazaar sightings and events often posted on April 1st by some of the veteran birders on this list serve. I personally thought they were fun, and for the most part, quite harmless. If a few beginning and apparently gullible birders got fooled and chased something that wasn't there, then too bad. That's what April Fools Day is all about. I fooled several of you and my good friend Rick Taylor into believing that my dog was eaten by a Great Horned Owl. He stayed up all night trying to figure out how to keep me from killing the owl, and called me a very bad name when he found out the truth. I got many sympathy emails about that dog. Rick and I are still friends, and the dog is fine. Please note that the well regarded NPR does a April Fools day story every year, that fools a lot of people, including me. Two of my birding colleagues have already told me that they looked for April fools posts today, and were disappointed when they didn't find any. As I recall the composition of this group, we are all mature (mostly) adults(mostly) who can take a joke (mostly). So, I am personally hoping that next April 1, there will be a few more bazaar sightings and bazaar events that fool a few gullible people. If they are beginning birders, they would still have access to calendars , and would know, just like the rest of us, that it is April Fools Day. Joe in the woods Somerset, Ohio Perry County By the way, I found a NESTING SNOWY OWL at the Perry County Wilds, but chose not to post it. Didn't want anyone driving down here and disturbing the nesting owl. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]