This morning as Jane and I were taking our hike around our property, I heard "our" Louisiana waterthrush singing in our easternmost, deepest ravine, in which the springs and stream are really gushing and flowing from the recent rains. "Valhalla Falls" actually looks like a mountain stream. The arrival of the waterthrush always makes me smile. Last year I almost missed it, since I left April 10 for what turned out to be over five months of at-sea expedition. 2014's first waterthrush was calling on April 8. The earliest ever for here (in my experience since 2001) has been March 31. We took the same walk yesterday without hearing the waterthrush, so I think this morning's song truly heralded the arrival. Phoebe's are now calling in a few locations, having first appeared April 2. Tree swallows have returned to the uplands, arriving April 1. At least two (possibly three) brown thrashers have been gracing our evenings with an entertaining variety of vocalizations, "trading twos" from their respective vantage points around the pasture edges. Life is good. Bob Evans Geologist, etc. Valhalla Acres Fiber Farm on Flint Ridge 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]