I was in Ashtabula Co. all day yesterday 9 June, mostly doing OBBA II work.  Plenty of quality habitat and good birds no matter where you go up there.  In one block in Pierpont Twp. I heard 5 willow flycatchers, 3 alder flycatchers, 2 least flycatchers, 2 cerulean warblers, and 2 purple finches--all on territory.  Am. kestrels and bobolinks are readily found at many fields, but no rarer grassland sparrows detected yet.  In fact, I only heard one savannah sparrow the whole day.  Maybe this is a quieter period for these species?  And still no sign of upland sandpipers, I have searched many, many acres of suitable habitat the last couple years with absolutely no success.  I fear they no longer breed in Ashtabula Co.  I also spent some time at Conneaut harbor yesterday, it was pretty good with Cooper's hawk, Am. coot, white-rumped sandpiper, dunlin, 2 great black-backed gulls, 2 Caspian terns, purple martins, and marsh wren present.  There were
 several very bleached/worn herring gulls there, and one of them was so whitish overall that I had to see it fly to ID it, even at very close range.  Another tough ID I had yesterday was what turned out to be a blue-winged warbler (genetically pure?) singing a rather harsh bee-bz-bz-bz song in the early evening.  I had heard this alternate song once before in nearby PA, and wasn't sure if it could be a golden-winged warbler or not (or a hybrid).  Wow, birding is never boring........Craig




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