The subject of this message seems inconsistent. It seems to me that the warbler migration should be later than the last reports for Smith's Longspur, but that is surely not the case this year. It was a fantastic day of birding in Ohio. Saturday morning I headed for the Manley Road site west of Rockford in Mercer County. On the way just west of a pond on the north side and just beyond the Rest Area along Rt 33, I found 4 CATTLE EGRETs. I arrived at Manley Road between 9:30 and 10:00 am. Steve from Cleveland and Jill and john Bowers were already there. The wind was fierce from the south, but they had some brief fly-by views of Smith's Longspurs before I arrived. We mostly walked the road and watched for flying Horned Larks and longspur shaped birds, searching the corn stubble and grassy areas with foxtail. After I heard a longspur rattle call, from the vicinity of a foxtail grassy patch, a single bird flew toward the road, circled to have the sun at our backs and came close enough and showed Steve, John and I the white patches on the wings "shoulder area" as well as the distinctive black and white pattern on the face and the salmon colored under-parts. This single bird then returned to the corn stubble field on the south side and dropped down into the grassy area on a knoll and disappeared. Steve left after that satisfying look but Jill was down the road and missed this single bird. We watched and waited some more in the fierce but warm wind, hoping to find some more birds close enough for Jill to get a good look. Again I heard the tell-tale rattle and found a bird sitting on a corn stalk slanting across a row. In my scope I could see a nicely plumaged Smith's Longspur, but of course it dropped down into the grass before Jill could get on it and get a good look. Suddenly, a small flock of longspur shaped birds flew up towards us calling and circled across the road, giving us good looks but then dropped down into the winter wheat on the north side of Manley road and disappeared. These five Smith's Longpsurs were followed by four more, which followed the same pattern. So, Jill got her good looks at a life bird too. It took a lot of patience and perseverance to find and see the Smith Longspurs well enough, and the trip was well worthwhile for a new bird for my Ohio state list. The first and last time that I saw a Smith's Longspur was in 1976 in Alaska on the Denali Highway!! After the nine Smith's Longspurs disappeared in the winter wheat, Jill and John and I left the Manley Road area and stopped by Frysinger Road to look for Golden Plover, but that location was empty. I left the Rockford area about 12:00 - 12:30 pm and headed north to look for shorebirds and warblers in the Ottawa NWR, Metzger Marsha and Magee area. The rest of the day/afternoon was spent finding new birds for the year, starting with Osprey north of Krause Road and then, Dunlin along Benton-Carroll Road. The woods at the end of road at Metzger Marsh was a gold mine-Black-throated Green (2-3), 1-Golden-winged Warbler (this is very early), 1-Blue-winged Warbler, Palm Warbler (many), 1-Orange-crowned Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Swainson's Thrush, Orchard Oriole 1 male, very early, many Blue-gray Gnatcatchers as well as many Ruby-crowned Kinglet (not new for the year). There was also at least one Pine Warbler and many Yellow-rumped Warblers but these also were not new for the year. I met Gabe Leidy and Sherrie Duris there, and they told me that they had 23 species of warblers including a lot of time at Magee at the boardwalk. I headed toward Magee, but stopped at Veler Road first. Just before I arrived, Gabe and Sherrie had found the flock of 23 American Avocets, but the birds had landed behind an embankment on the far south side of the marsh and were out of sight. I stayed when Gabe and Sherrie left hoping to see the flock of avocets take wing or appear. However, before seeing the avocets, I found a MARBLED GODWIT with no one else there to enjoy it but me. Finally, six American Avocets appeared beyond the embankment. There was also a swirling flock of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpipers flying around the marsh and landing at new locations. I left Veler Road to head to Benton-Carroll for more shore-birding but stopped on the next road south of Veler Road to see the three Sandhill Cranes that Gabe and Sherrie told me about. On my way out of Veler Road, Rick Nirshl was heading in, so I told him about the American Avocets that Gabe and Sherrie found and the Marbled Godwit that I found. I met Gabe and Sherrie at the corner of Krause and Stange and told them about the Marbled Godwit, so they headed back to see it. I'm glad that they reported it on Rarebird, because I did not have internet access. Along Lichert-Hardin Road south of Ottawa NWR, I met Gabe and Sherrie again at a sky pool. There I added Purple Martin and Gabe and I heard a Solitary Sandpiper flight call, our first for the year. I ended the day looking for a flock of 200 American Golden Plover that Gabe and Sherrie found, but the directions were confusing, and I never did find them. I ended a fantastic Saturday with a new state bird, Smith's Longspur, and some other great birds, Cattle Egret, Golden-winged Warbler (always tough to get in Ohio for me), Orange-crowned Warbler and American Avocet and Marbled Godwit, both more readily found in the late summer fall but not as easy in the spring, with about 17 new birds in Ohio for the year. Jay Jay G. 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