Nothing special to report ... just some notes from the afternoon spent looking about for shorebird habitat. a brief survey of Metzger from the causeway only under wind conditions precluding the use of a scope, I had ... Mute Swan - 4 Trumpeter Swan - 18 Mallard - 150+ Gadwall - 850+ Northern Pintail - 25 Northern Shoveler - 75 Green-winged Teal - 180+ Horned Grebe - 9 Pied-billed Grebe - 3 American Coot - 1850+ Great Egret - 2 Tree Swallow - 120 Ottawa and adjacent Lucas County fields are mostly dry. Park Colony Rd (just west of Reno on the Beach) may be remembered by some for the good spring shorebirding there in the 90's. Tiling in 2002 reduced flooding of the fields substantially. There was enough standing water yesterday to attract ... Wood Duck - 12 Gadwall - 9 Mallard - 90 American Black - 12 Blue-wiged Teal - 2 American Wigeon - 135 Northern Pintail - 4 Bonaparte's Gull - 4 Ring-billed Gull - 150 Killdeer - 4 perhaps worth a look over the next week or two. Benton-Carroll (just off Rt. 2) is not nearly as waterlogged as has been the case the past 10 years. And the vegetation is as thick as I have seen this early in the season. There were only 8 Greater and 1 Lesser Yellowlegs present yesterday. When passing Turtle Creek (from the east) or approaching (from the west) on Rt. 2, it may be worth a moment of your time to turn off on Bodi ... the moist exposed soil there may attract some plovers in the near future. Otherwise, I have nothing else to recommend in the immediate vicinity of the Ottawa/Magee complex. This suggests, barred new flooding, that the planned draw-down of a unit at Ottawa NWR and the executed draw-down at Magee will be crucial for both shorebird and birder alike this spring. cheers Vic Fazio Shaker Heights, OH PS> Lake Erie water levels in the Western Basin are as high as I have seen since 1995-96. ______________________________________________________________________ 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]