A fourth night-heron has returned to the Columbus colony's nesting area, completing a pair at the smaller nest. This nest looks too small to accommodate even both parents, let alone five juveniles, and will have to be enlarged. If this is the same pair as last year, they have a lousy record at nest-building (last year their eggs ended up on the street). This time, however, they seem to have at least a platform to start on, even though it's on some rather frail-looking branches. Some debris under the nest seems to indicate they've been trying to add to it, but without much success. If you visit, please encourage them. The pair of Cooper's hawks, whose nest is about 50 yds away, were very vocal this morning, as if they might be making fun of the herons' inadequacies. Another thing. I visited the site with my friends from Chicago, Joel Greenberg and his wife Cindy. Joel would like an excellent photo of one of these nests, with birds of course (this year or previously), for his blog entry on this site, so if anyone has one of which he/she is particularly proud, I'll be glad to forward it to him over the next couple of days; make sure to include your name and the date for everlasting fame. Bill Whan Columbus p.s. I probably don't have to suggest this to birders, but take advantage of opportunities to show these striking birds to locals who jog/bike/walk by, tell them a little about them, and thank them for welcoming them to nest in their neighborhood. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]