Another attempt to see Ruffed Grouse where fellow birder Phil Cantino keeps finding them was successful this morning: Life bird! It happened on the Trace Trail in Athens Conservancy's Blair Preserve. First, I heard a sequence of alarm calls, shortly followed by a bird breaking into flight, crossing the trail, and showing off its rufous back and dark tail band. Too quick to use my camera. A few seconds later, a second bird took off from the same thicket in a different direction, remaining unseen. There were also several vocalizing Hermit Thrushes, allowing me to get acquainted with their “churt” and “veee” calls. I managed to upload a picture and a brief sound file to eBird: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25877457 Other birds included Red-breasted Nuthatches near pine trees, a Brown Creeper, and Golden-crowned Kinglets in a group of Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Downy Woodpeckers. A flock of Eastern Bluebirds were flying over the forest. Keep birding— Stefan Stefan Gleissberg Athens, Ohio [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ 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]