Rob's post reminded me that I had an early Yellow Warbler and early American Redstart this morning on the OSU campus in Columbus. I suspect that last night's rains forced a few early migrants to land in the dark and spend the day in the nearest marginal habitat. To verify this, I would normally look back at last night's radar loop ( http://www.pauljhurtado.com/US_Composite_Radar/ ) to see if there were in fact birds migrating through central Ohio when the storms hit, but my site is down for another day or two until I get it back up and running again (my apologies!) Fall songbird migration, it seems, has arrived! For all you eBirders (and future eBirders!), that means now is a great time to start checking your local migrant traps! Not only will you get to witness the shift in the composition of your local bird community from our summer residents to fall migrants, but you'll also be documenting the absence and subsequent arrival of all those migrants. By submitting complete checklists for those not-so-birdy outings BEFORE migration picks up, you're actually making those later observations more valuable! Sometimes documenting the ABSENCE of a species is just as important as documenting their presence. Together, those data help us better understand changes in seasonal movement patterns, and fall migration for many species is right around the corner. Good birding, Paul Hurtado Columbus, 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.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]