Hello Ohio Birders, I drove down from Oberlin to spend the day birding Killdeer Plains and Big Island Wildlife Areas. I'd never been before so I quite enjoyed the trip. The day started relatively slow. After driving around getting a sense of the preserve, I spent a long time in the 'owl pines' attempting to locate a Long-eared owl but this proved unsuccessful. Later on I surveyed Pond 27 only to find Canada Geese, and swans. However after leaving to find a shrike (also unsuccessful) I came back and found 4 white-fronted geese! Those were a long-overdue lifer. Around 4:00 I drove to Big Island where I was unsurprisingly greeted by harriers and more geese. Around 4:20 the first Short-eared owl (another lifer!) appeared and after about 30 minutes there were 5 hovering around the wetlands off Agosta road. This was quite spectacular especially when they'd clash with the harriers. Other things to note were Lapland Longspurs in the fields off highway 71 and a sulky Swamp Sparrow in the drainage ditches at Big Island. Overall I'd say it was a successful venture and can't wait to return! Ian Ruppenthal Oberlin, OH by way of Davidson, NC ______________________________________________________________________ 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]