This afternoon I attempted to locate the Golden-winged Warbler that Gabe Leidy spotted this weekend in a clear-cut off of Long Ridge Rd in Zaleski State Forest in Vinton County. Unfortunately, I came up empty-handed. I hope the time of day was to blame - it was about 2:00 by the time I was able to get there, and very hot and sunny, so I assume a lot of birds were quiet. Not the Prairie Warblers though! Wow, I've never heard such a concentration of Praire Warblers before, nor of Yellow-breasted Chats. I did see a Red-headed Woodpecker in the last dead snag on the right at the far end of the clear-cut, just before you would head back into the woods. I also saw (and heard) Blue-winged Warbler, Field Sparrow (on a nest in a shrub very close to the main trail), Eastern Towhee, and Common Yellowthroat (which I suspect also had a nest near the trail). Indigo Buntings could be heard sporadically, and I heard a pair of counter-singing Hooded Warblers at the trailhead as I was leaving. Incidentally, this clear-cut would be a great place to compare and contrast the songs of Prairie Warbler vs Field Sparrow for those who might confuse the two. Both were singing with great frequency. I was disappointed, however, to have so many Prairie Warblers singing around me but not actually see a single one of them! I also checked out the other clear-cut that Gabe mentioned (on Irish Ridge Rd), and it held many of the same species as the first. Here, however, I was actually able to see some of the singing Chats (I heard many of them at Long Ridge, but saw none of them), and also had good looks at a male Blue-winged Warbler. A few species that stood out at this clear-cut that I did not see or hear at the Long Ridge clear-cut were Carolina Chickadee and Eastern Bluebird. A word of caution to any who might be accessing this area via King Hollow from Athens County - I came across some downed trees this afternoon which completely blocked the road about 1/2 mile past the Vinton/Athens county line, on the Vinton Co. side (or 1/2 mile past the main sign announcing entrance into the Wild Turkey Management Area, where Rock Camp Rd turns into King Hollow). When I reported the downed trees to the Zaleski forest headquarters, they said they were aware of the road block and were hoping to get someone out there today - that was at about 3:00. If anyone else manages to spot this bird again, please report back! Good birding, Heather Aubke Albany, OH -- Come visit me in the hills at Heather of the Hills<http://heather-heatherofthehills.blogspot.com/> http://heatherofthehills.com ______________________________________________________________________ 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.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]