I took a little "detour" from my errands today to enjoy a little bit of birding on the bike trail in Champion Twp. I only had time to walk from the Sunside trailhead north to the first road and back. Recent logging activities opened up a large area that should attract Chestnut-sided warblers this year. A similar area was logged a couple of years ago, and I had Chestnut-sided warblers singing there soon after. Low areas were very flooded, with a farm pond spilling well into the surrounding hay field. A complete list is below (21 species) in no particular order. Highlights include: Brown Creeper (1), Golden-crowned Kinglet (7) and Vesper Sparrow (1). Golden-crowned kinglet - 7 Black-capped chickadee - 15 Eastern tufted titmouse - 3 Downy woodpecker - 6 (3 separate pairs) Turkey vulture - 1 American robin - 3 American goldfinch - 4 (2 separate pairs, each male singing to "his" female) Red-winged blackbird - 7 (several singing) Rusty blackbird - 1 (singing) Common grackle - 19 Brown-headed cowbird - 2 Song sparrow - 3 (all singing) Blue jay - 1 Northern cardinal - 11 (several males singing) Vesper sparrow - 1 (singing 15' away from me - gorgeous!) Mallard - 10 (5 pairs) Canada goose - 37 (3 nests, each with an adult on it) Brown creeper - 1 White-breasted nuthatch - 2 Eastern towhee - 1 (male, calling 10' away from me) Tree swallow - 1 (flew over, calling) Also seen: fresh Pileated woodpecker excavations on a tree (no bird seen) Judy Hochadel ______________________________________________________________________ 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]