John Habig and I left very early and arrived at the Mountain Bluebird spot at 295 and Wilkins at about 7:00 am. There was one other birder there, who apparently stopped off on the way to work or and appointment. A park employee also stopped by. The Mountain Bluebird showed up at about 8:00 am, initially located by Phil Choan. The bird put on a great show. There were lots of photo opportunities. There was a Wilson's Snipe winnowing over the airport grounds along 295 at the intersection with Wilkins. I found 2 Fox Sparrows, singing and visible along Sager toward 295 as well as singing Brown Thrashers, Purple Finches and Field Sparrows. We heard a Ring-necked pheasant crowing. Quite a few other birders showed up including the group from the Columbus area. See previous posting by Ben Warner. John and I left the area and visited the Nature Center at Oak Openings MP, where we found 2 Eastern Phoebes, 2 Pine Warblers, both singing, one at the nature Center and one along the exit road from the Nature Center parking lot in a stand of White Pines. There were lots of Purple Finches (about 24) with some beautiful red raspberry colored males, which we do not see very often on Southwest Ohio, and quite a few Pine Siskins at the feeders and in the area at the Nature Center as well as at least 8 Fox Sparrows in the nearby woods, singing and visible. We had two Red-breasted Nuthatches in the pines near the Nature Center parking lot. There were lots of Dark-eyed juncos singing. John and I birded around Oak Openings, adding all the woodpeckers except Pileated. We had two Red-headed Woodpeckers on Reed at the Lark Sparrow spot. We looked for but did not find the Lark Sparrows. However, Chipping Sparrows were on territory and singing, as were Field Sparrows at many locations. We had a single Tree Sparrow along Reed at the Lark Sparrow spot. We left the area about 10:30 am, and there were still many birders viewing the Mountain Bluebird. At Bayshore Power Plant, we added a single Caspian Tern, at least 100 double-crested Cormorants, a single Winter Wren, about 50 Bonaparte's Gulls almost in breeding plumage and about 11 Great Egrets in the hot water outlet. On the way to Maumee Bay SP we added another Great Egret. At Maumee Bay SP, we added 6 more Caspian Terns and a pair of Wood Ducks, John had a fly-over Bald Eagle and there was a large flock of scaup far out on the lake. We headed to Ottawa NWR with several stops at and in the area of Metzger Marsh. We had six more Bald Eagles, five at Metzger in assorted immature plumages. At the gate to Ottawa NWR on Veler Road, the new managed marsh had large numbers of waterfowl, 21 Northern Pintail, 100 American Wigeon, 40 Green-winged Teal, another immature Bald Eagle sitting on the ground in the field by the marsh, 25 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 1 Greater Yellowlegs. Along Benton-Carrol Road we had 15 Greater yellowlegs, 6 Lesser Yellowlegs, 25 Pectoral Sandpipers and 7 Wilson's Snipe. Along the causeway to the Magee Marsh boardwalk, we had 2 SNOWY EGRETS, probably the first report for Ohio this year, and quite early. These birds were feeding with Great Egrets just beyond the bridge on the east side and inside of a controlled burn. On the boardwalk, we had a flock of about 8 Golden-crowned Kinglets and 2 Brown Creepers. We estimated 20 Fox Sparrows along the boardwalk witout waling the whole boardwalk, many singing, at least 18 Rusty Blackbirds, many singing, as well as good looks at 2 pairs of Greater Scaup in the pond between the entry road and the boardwalk. We had just enough time to stop by Cygnet to try for the Western Meadowlark on our way south. On the way to Range Line Road, we had at least two Vesper Sparrows, one tail-less and one singing. These were in cornfields on the north with a woodlot beside the road on the south. There may have been more Vesper Sparrows, because there was a lot of singing, and the number reported here (2) assumed that the singing bird was moving around. We found the Western Meadowlark immediately upon arriving at Range Line. It flew up out of the ditch on the south side just before the intersection with Range Line, landed on the power line and immediately sang its beautiful pipe organ quality song. We found a large flock of Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs in the green grassy field in the northeast quadrant of the intersection with range Line Road. We estimated 200 Lapland Longspurs and 100 Horned Larks. The birds were very difficult to see on the ground, but the flock flew around several times, allowing an estimate of numbers. Most if not all of the longspurs were in breeding plumage. We had hoped for some American Pipits in this flock and saw a few candidates but they disappeared into the grass upon landing and were not calling. I wish we had enough time and light to check out the longspurs for Smith's Longspurs, but we did not. We ended the day with a list of 88 species without trying for a big day. Jay Jay G. Lehman Cincinnati, OH [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. 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