First the caveats. I realize this is a second-hand report and may not include all the details. And I am sure that Dan Sanders has seen more Sprague's Pipits than I have had hot breakfasts. With that understood, I urge anyone who goes after this bird to pay close attention to leg color. The pink legs of the Sprague's separate it from all the races that occur in the Lower 48. That was what we used to look for when I lived in Arizona when we commonly filtered through squadrons of America Pipits looking for a stray Sprague's. You have to look closely, though. On bright days, the bird's own shadow can mask the leg color. This bird would seem to be very early, whatever kind of pipit it is. The two records for Sprague's cited in Peterjohn are for 31 Oct and mid Nov. The earliest American Pipit record is 2 Sep. Given that this bird is seriously dislocated both spatially and temporally, perhaps we should not assume that it is simply a matter of choosing between American and Sprague's. Finally, it is great to see Ohio birders encountering pipit problems. In the Old World, pipit problems are considered very thorny. A good pipit problem can bring a day's birding to a screeching halt and in extreme case can lead to fist fights. Cheers, Bob -- Robert D Powell Wilmington, OH, USA [log in to unmask] http://rdp1710.wordpress.com Nulla dies sine linea ______________________________________________________________________ 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]