Loony Bin

I'll have to be committed for this, but it is with amazement that I report my most recent yard lifer. I am situated in a location rather removed from most water in Ohio, but today, a half hour before sunset, I had a loose flock of FIVE Common Loons wing it over my yard today, headed due North. It happened while I was walking the land with binoculars in hand, cursing the apparent lack of migrant birds ironically, and then I saw them in the distance at a good height, not too far away thankfully, outstretched black and white with those flipper feet out behind, what a sight! They flew in and through right over my head. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Other birds in the yard included Palm Warbler, Swamp Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, Wood Duck, Mallard, and what seemed like an unusual number of Grackles. Plus the rest of the host of other birds. Still no ding dang Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.