Struck out today in my quest to find the Black Rail at Charlie's Pond. I arrived at 10:15am and rail watchers said the bird had been heard calling at dawn, but not since. I hung around until 11:45am, broke for lunch, and returned at 1:15pm for another attempt. No joy. A gentleman from Toledo, who left home at 3am to chase this bird, had a good theory: Perhaps the rails have established territory and begun nesting, thus don't need to call so frequently. Whatever the reason, I was sorry to miss them and wish the evening shift better luck. The trip wasn't a total wash-out. I did get several good birds including my Life GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS, heard singing the minute I stepped out of my car and good looks in the scope, my Life ALDER FLYCATCHER, and my first sight of HENLSOW'S SPARROWS (previous birds in 2007 and 2006 were "heard only.") The rest of my trip list: Barn, Tree and Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Dicksissel, Horned Lark, Eastern Meadowlark, Mourning Dove, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, American Robin, Turkey Vulture, Great Blue Heron, and the following "heard only" birds: Song Sparrow, Ring-necked Pheasant, Common Yellowthroat. Birders were on excellent behavior: Quiet voices, no tapes or i-pods in use, no trespassing or blokcking the road, and everybody parked uphill from the softer ground near the swale. ~Kathi Hutton Felicity http://katdocsworld.blogspot.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ 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]