As of the evening of September I have been back home, after being gone (at sea) since April 10. I am very happy to be back. The birds are about as expected this latter half of September, which is to say that that nature here is thoroughly delightful. I note that some northern Ohio posts mention the lack of hummingbirds for a few days. Our feeders here in rural Muskingum County are still being visited by a few, or at least one. I had a single individual female/immature type visit the feeder, spotted once yesterday morning, and around 1PM today. A pair of pileated woodpeckers have been flying and calling in the forest every morning. A couple nights we have heard a distant great horned owl just after dusk. Raising a smile for me in the "Spring Hollow" during our morning hike today, was a singing white-eyed vireo. For my Ohio birding friends who may be curious, I picked up 4 North American lifers this past spring and summer from our location about 160 miles off Charleston, SC: a late spring masked booby, and three others that showed up in some numbers following Hurricane Bertha - sooty tern, and Cory's and Audubon's shearwaters. Bob Evans Geologist, etc. Hopewell Township, Muskingum County ______________________________________________________________________ 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]