This morning around 10:30 I spotted the first tree swallow of the season, swooping over the hilltop and around one of the nest boxes, newly cleaned out and re-furbished as needed for this arrival. This made me smile. Tree swallows have been around the state for a couple weeks now, but all the sighting's reports I have read relate lowland locations or over water, at least I think so. To me, this makes sense, since the bugs come out first there. The warmish early spring has brought the appearance of plenty of flying insects on the Flint Ridge uplands. The swallows will have no problem with that. We also noticed another sign of the early-advancing spring. The Virginia bluebells are budding out a couple weeks earlier than normal. I also had my first tick yesterday, but I will just deal with it. 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]