This evening (Sunday June 3) I checked out the flats at Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, Lucas Co., n.w. Ohio, between passing rain showers. Nothing really rare was present, but notable birds included a mix of migrant shorebirds, scarce breeders, and summering nonbreeders. Shorebird migration is still under way, with birds still en route to the Arctic, albeit a lot fewer than a week ago. Most notable today were two Red Knots, one in rich full breeding plumage, the other only partway there. Also present were one Semi. Plover, 20 Ruddy Turnstones, 16 Semi. Sandpipers, one Least Sandpiper, 25 Dunlins, and 5 White-rumped Sandpipers. None of these would be considered late yet, and in fact this should be just about prime time for White-rumpeds; I used to live in Kansas where this species was a very common spring migrant, and its numbers there would peak during the first few days of June. For some reason I saw more ducks today than on other recent visits, including single male Gadwall and Am. Wigeon and a pair of Green-winged Teal. All of these species nest in small numbers in the western Lake Erie marshes so I'm guessing these were all breeders in the local area. That kind of assumption wouldn't apply to some other birds there today. The resting flock of gulls and terns on the flats today included 4 Bonaparte's Gulls (all one-year-olds) and up to 20 Forster's Terns at a time (mostly subadults also, but with three full adults; by contrast, the 45 Common Terns present were almost all adults). Bonaparte's Gulls nest at lakes in the boreal forest, a habitat we're lacking in Ohio, but Forster's Terns are marsh nesters and it would seem plausible to look for them breeding in the Lake Erie marshes. The latest version I've seen of the OOS annotated checklist (dated April 2004) has nothing at all on the bar graph for Forster's Tern in the month of June, but I understand that the checklist is being updated. Kenn Kaufman Rocky Ridge, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ 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]