Howdy all, It's not often that I find my own life birds anymore, but today is an exception. As lab instructor for the ornithology course, I was leading Dr. Burtt and the ornithology class through the area for a field lab looking for waterfowl. As we pulled into the Leonardsburg marsh area along Leonardsburg Rd., I noticed a white waterfowl sitting with the Canada Geese. I prayed it wasn't a domestic. Of course I was hoping for a Snow Goose, but was then extremely surprised to see it was a ROSS'S GOOSE!!! Not only is this such a rare bird for Ohio, but it was a lifebird for me! I attempted to rouse the class with excitement, which worked on some students, though some could only complain about the test they'll later today. I suppose some students just take the class for the grade. Anyhoo, here is the list from this morning. Location: Delaware Wildlife Area Observation date: 2/26/09 Number of species: 47 Ross's Goose 1 Canada Goose 350 Wood Duck 2 Gadwall 3 American Wigeon 25 American Black Duck 4 Mallard 120 Northern Shoveler 1 Northern Pintail 60 Canvasback 21 Redhead 14 Ring-necked Duck 65 Lesser Scaup 6 Hooded Merganser 23 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Great Blue Heron 5 Bald Eagle 1 Cooper's Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 1 American Coot 1 Ring-billed Gull 450 Herring Gull 2 Rock Pigeon 15 Mourning Dove 4 Belted Kingfisher 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Downy Woodpecker 1 Blue Jay 5 American Crow 12 Horned Lark 4 Carolina Chickadee 2 Tufted Titmouse 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Eastern Bluebird 1 American Robin 25 European Starling 40 American Tree Sparrow 2 Song Sparrow 1 White-throated Sparrow 1 Dark-eyed Junco 3 Northern Cardinal 2 Red-winged Blackbird 20 Common Grackle 4 Brown-headed Cowbird 2 House Finch 3 American Goldfinch 1 House Sparrow X Good birding, Sean -- Sean Williams Ohio Wesleyan University Lab of Dr. Jed Burtt ______________________________________________________________________ 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]