Brad Sparks and I spent the morning along Darby Creek. The pair of blue grosbeaks were seen delivering a grasshopper to offspring [they were pretty easy to find in the copse of trees immediately before where the bike trail northbound from the Kuhlwein Rd pkg lot crosses Darby Creek Drive, a nice maybe .6 mi walk. Large flocks of bobolinks along the way. The Darby wetlands had 11 shorebird species: 30 lesser yellowlegs, 2 greater yellowlegs, two short-billed and one long-billed dowitcher (all juv), a white-rumped sandpiper, two least SPs, 8 semipalmated SPs, one semipalmated plover, twelve stilt SPs, 3 pectoral SPs, 4 killdeers. We saw a female and a juvenile harrier flying together, another sign they probably nested successfully here. The easiest way to this place: (1) wait till the Parks finish improvements, or (2) park at Kuhlwein, take the bike path south to where it turns 90 degrees right to cross Darby Ck Dr, then head pretty much directly east through the small grove of oaks across the new prairie; the shorebird spot is in the pond maybe .3 mile ahead; there is no path, and it is not easy walking. Birds are spooky, and you must keep your distance. We met Ben Warner there, who called us later to report he had found two buff-breasted SPs and golden-plovers, first reported yesterday, by looking from the bike trail at Kuhlwein across Darby Ck Dr. We'd missed them earlier. There is a large area across the Drive where sod has been removed; just beyond it to the west (maybe 250 yards) is a grassy area where several stacks of old pallets can be seen; the birds were in this area. The distance is too far to appreciate the subtle beauties of the buff-breasteds, but close enough to identify them at 60X, making the Darby shorebird total 13. To the north, we walked a trail in Prairie Oaks MP along the Creek and found a couple big flocks of southbound warblers, totaling well over a hundred birds; among those we could get our eyes on were ten species, and I'm sure we missed a lot. They were hard to pin down near the Creek, but easier where the forest edged on the field. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ 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]