I stopped by the Wilds this wet morning on my way South (home) from a weekend in Cleveland and located the Northern Shrike immediately upon turning onto Zion Ridge Road from SR 146. Once again, this bird flew right in front of my vehicle to alert me of its presence, just like it was doing on Prouty Road almost 40 days ago. I had the strangest luck with the bird flying across the road in front of me while driving slowly, and today it happened again. I parked and then got out in the downpour to study the bird for awhile, watched it feed, fly around and then took some digiscoped images of it before it flew out of sight to the East. I had the feeling that this was the same bird I saw on December 9 almost two miles away but will take a close look at the photos to see if I can see any similarities. Today's Shrike was soaked and this changed the appearance of the bird considerably. All in all, raptor numbers were low and there were no eagles to report. For me, the Golden Eagle hasn't been as easy to find this winter as it was last winter. Oh well, still plenty of time this season to see the bird(s). Ring-necked Ducks made their most numerous showing of the season too, with at least 100 between 5 different water bodies. Eastern Meadowlarks were also active in the rain (about 35) as were Horned Larks (27). Others were RL Hawk (2), Harrier (3), RT Hawk (2), and Kestrel (2), Bluebird (3). Glen Crippen Burr Oak Lake ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]