In years past I've found early September to be a great time for studying terns at Maumee Bay State Park, Lucas Co., n.w. Ohio. Today (Friday Sept. 5) I visited and found about 300 terns resting on the beach there -- my estimates were roughly 160 Common Terns, 120 Forster's Terns, and 20 Caspian Terns. The opportunity to compare a lot of Forster's and Commons side by side makes it easier to recognize the species when we see smaller numbers of them separately. Right now there are still a few adult Commons that are mostly in breeding plumage, but most of the birds are in transitional plumages and showing a lot of variation. With the birds resting at close range, it's possible to check the identifications of odd individuals by considering their bill shapes, as the Common's bill is distinctly smaller and narrower, more attenuated toward the tip. When the birds get up and fly around (as happens periodically when they're disturbed), it's possible to study their flight patterns also. The flocks of gulls resting on the beaches and in the parking lots today (mostly Ring-billed, some Herring and Bonaparte's Gulls) included a single one-year-old Lesser Black-backed Gull in the 2nd lot back from the beach -- this species shows up more frequently in winter here. Along the water's edge on the beach were single juveniles of Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstone. Brian Zwiebel had seen a Buff-breasted Sandpiper in the grass near the beach a few days ago but I didn't see it today. A quick check of the wildlife beach at Magee Marsh turned up a flock of 9 Sanderlings (2 adults, the rest juveniles), a Spotted Sandpiper, and a single juv Buff-breasted Sandpiper. When I've seen Buff-breasteds on open beach situations before, they've always acted nervous, as if they felt out of place, and today's bird was acting that way as well. A number of migrant Magnolias and a few other warblers were in the brush along the wildlife beach but they were quiet and elusive. With the wind shifting around to the north now, I expect there will be an influx of songbird migrants this weekend. The window on wildlife at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory now features a new rain garden and water feature, and migrants are discovering the water -- a Mourning Warbler was seen there today, a Canada Warbler a couple of days ago. Needless to say, while I was out today I didn't encounter any hurricane-related birds. But there was a frigatebird seen in east-central Illinois yesterday ... it's still possible that some odd storm-driven bird might show up in Ohio. Kenn Kaufman Oak Harbor, 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]