Things were pretty slow today and the day and it would have been a big disappointment if a PURPLE SANDPIPER hadn't flown by. The bird passed by a little after 9:00 and was flying east just a little offshore. Other than that, not many gulls or ducks. One additional note about my feeders. In the years I have lived here house finches disappear in September and typically return in numbers in April. I rarely see more than a handful during the winter. I'm guessing it might have something to do with me living along the lake. Summer numbers easily exceed 50+ birds at times. Recently I have been seeing 30+ house finches, a sign of the mild winter. Not much else of note other than eastern towhee. Location- Lakeshore Reservation, North Perry, Lake County Date- January 6, 2007, Time- 7:45-9:45 Weather- Cloudy, Winds- WSW 15-20 Temperature- 50-51 F, Barometer- 29.72-29.75 Humidity- 88-83, Dew point- 47-46 Waves- 3-4, Flight direction- west Common goldeneye 3 Red-breasted merganser 1 PURPLE SANDPIPER 1 Bonaparte's gull 2 Ring-billed gull 124 Herring gull 16 Great Black-backed gull 2 John Pogacnik 4765 Lockwood Road Perry, OH 44081 440-259-2751 ______________________________________________________________________ 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]