Hello Everyone, If you're planning on making the trip to see if the Arctic Tern is still around at Maumee Bay State Park, (I haven't heard of any sightings of the bird since yesterday morning), you might want to plan enough time for a walk at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. I just received word from Mark Shieldcastle that while scouting for tomorrow's Hike The Dikes he spotted a Little Blue Heron on Refuge Unit 8a. The bird was with a group of 33 Snowy Egrets. Here's a map showing where Unit 8a is: http://www.bsbo.org/birding/pdf/OttawaNWRMap-Overview.pdf It's on the north side of the woodlot that's right behind the new Visitor's Center. Access to that area is from the parking lot west of the old visitor's center. On the map you'll see a box marked: PARKING FOR TRAILS; START OF AUTO TOUR. If you go, please take some water with you! It's supposed to be another warm day and getting to Unit 8a will require a bit of walking. For those who can't get up here today, maybe you could join us for the Hike The Dikes (HTD) that begins tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. at the Sportsmen's Migratory Bird Center at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area. HTD is a partnership between Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, and Black Swamp Bird Observatory. These walks are held throughout the year and take you into places normally off-limits to the public. The walks are open to all ages, last approximately 2 hours (we've been known to go longer if there's a lot to see!), and are offered free of charge. Mark & Julie Shieldcastle are the leaders of tomorrow's walk and they know this area well, having studied birds in this region for more than 30 years. Members of the Ohio Young Birders Club will be hosting their monthly field trip tomorrow and will be joining us for part of the trip. Thanks and stay cool! ~kim Kimberly Kaufman Executive Director Black Swamp Bird Observatory 13551 West State Route 2 Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449 419-898-4070 www.bsbobird.org www.ohioyoungbirders.org www.biggestweekinamericanbirding.org Become a fan of BSBO on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/bsbobird Follow BSBO on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bsbobird ______________________________________________________________________ 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]