Two very cool things late this afternoon. First, my son Adam and I went to LaDue to try some digiscoping with my new spotting scope and his hand-held digital camera. We spotted and photographed an Osprey just after it finished eating a fish, a Great Egret in the process of eating a fish, and a loon to see how the camera would do at long distances. The new scope is great but the pictures need some help. The second cool thing was posting these pictures using Google's Picasso site. Adam set-up an account for me and uploaded the Osprey pictures. Then I tried my hand and found that you can select up to 6 pictures for downloading at a time. If this interests you (the Michigan list does this all the time) then go to my site and check it out http://picasaweb.google.com/mvalencic/Birds . I guarantee it will not hurt you! Pick one of the pictures and click on it. Give it a few seconds and it will get larger (big files!). Then scroll down the page and look at the map in the lower left corner to see EXACTLY where we photographed the bird. This is but one of the cool features of this site - the ability to put the location on each picture. After the picture is saved you simply scroll down the page and select the option for adding the location. Click on it and it prompts you for the location - in this case I typed LaDue Reservoir, Auburn, OH. The map appeared out of cyber space with a little red indicator in the middle of the lake. At Adam's direction I put my cursor on the red indicator and dragged (drug?) it to the spot where we saw the Osprey (the red indicator has a little 'x' below it which you position right on the spot you choose). Let go of the red indicator and it is there for everyone to see. NO MORE DETAILED DRIVING INSTRUCTIONS - JUST POST YOUR PICTURES ON YOUR PICASSO SITE AND ADD A LINK TO YOUR EMAIL. Below the map is a link that will show you where all the birds in the album were photographed. Click on it and see where we were this evening! Zoom out on the map to get an idea of where we are in Ohio. Zoom in for specific street information (the Osprey was photographed from Auburn Road where it crosses the back-water of LaDue. Go to SATELLITE VIEW and see the actual location, trees, water and all! You can create an album for each of your birding areas and fellow birders will know exactly where you saw the Great Pot-bellied Flycatcher! SO YOU DON'T HAVE PICTURES TO POST BUT WANT TO SHOW WHERE YOU WERE? Use Google Maps. Open a Gmail account if you don't have one. Then go to the Google site and select MAPS. Like before, type in your location (LaDue Reservoir, Auburn, OH). It gives you the map and an indicator. Move the indicator where you want it then SAVE the map with an appropriate name so you will remember it later if you need it. Now you have a link to attach to future emails. Regards, Matt Valencic Chagrin Falls, OH ______________________________________________________________________ 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]